


Making it Work, All of It

by K_iddo



Category: Karate Kid (Movies)
Genre: (just pot nothing heavy), 1980s, 80's, Dating, Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, High School, Himbo Rights, Humour, Recreational Drug Use, Romance, Tutoring, Underage Drinking, au elements, relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:13:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 86,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26685703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/K_iddo/pseuds/K_iddo
Summary: Annoyance shot up my neck and I resisted the urge to throw the book at his stupid face.“Okay,” I sat back and rolled my eyes; the change in my tone must’ve caught his attention because he looked at me then, “do you think I wanna goddamn be here in the library with you right now? I know you don’t know me but I actually do make plans for Friday nights too, so why don’t we just get this over with so next time there’s an English class it looks like you at least tried to listen to me. I’m sure whatever girl’s waiting for you can manage another half hour without you.”I looked back down at my notes with irritation and he didn’t say anything for a while, still looking at me. When I finally looked at him again there was a small smirk on his lips.Set during The Karate Kid but not a shot by shot retelling at all. Told from the perspective of OC, Jenna, definitely NOT developing a crush on Johnny Lawrence.
Relationships: Johnny Lawrence/Original Character(s), Johnny Lawrence/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 132
Kudos: 160





	1. Strawberry Milkshake

Everybody knew who Johnny Lawrence was. If you’d been to any sports game, you’d probably heard his name cheered from the crowd and most weeks you couldn’t sit in class without hearing his name over the loudspeakers telling him to go to the principal’s office. For me, there was no ignoring his existence because my best friend, like nearly every girl in school, talked about him so often it could give me a headache. I couldn’t pretend I was above noticing what he looked like, he definitely stood out with that blonde hair and those broad shoulders, a little taller than most of his friends, but I really did not get the obsession. Sure, he was athletic, but he was also a total asshole and kind of stupid. I couldn’t imagine actually having a conversation with him. Although she’d recently dumped him, I never understood why Ali Mills went out with him at all, we weren’t friends but I sat beside her in History and she was smart and nice to everybody. It was as if the law of high school was that the pretty cheerleader  _ had _ to date the handsome sports star and she had just been following the rules.

“God, he looks good on his bike, doesn’t he, Jenna?” my best friend Sharon said dreamily, leaning against the locker beside me. I looked over my shoulder and saw him and his friends all laughing and standing around, him leaning on the seat of his motorbike, just so we all remembered he had one, I supposed... He was always in the middle of that big group like he was the king and they were his subjects; it seemed kind of pathetic to me that they just trailed him around and did his bidding, laughed at everything he said. 

I rolled my eyes and closed my locker, books under my arm. 

“He looks like he’s never had a thought in his head,” I said and tugged her away before we were late for our separate classes. 

“So?” She giggled and looped her arm around mine. 

Sharon was a little taller than me, dark-haired and pretty, but she wore big glasses and had braces and that seemed enough to mark her as uninteresting to the boys in school, which was an issue because boys were one of  _ her _ main interests. For me, I noticed them, but I couldn’t really care that much. Senior year would be over before we knew it and I could finally get to college and away from these dumbass Cali boys. For most of them, I was too quiet and disinterested to seem like I’d be any fun to hang out with - I wasn’t shy, I’d just learned that no attention at high school was better than any. 

English was my favourite class and I always enjoyed ending the day with it on Fridays. I sat in my usual spot by the window so I could smell the air outside while I made my notes. We were doing Shakespeare,  _ Much Ado About Nothing _ , and I didn’t understand why everyone else had found it so boring. I’d loved it. Still, that was something I wouldn’t be shouting out loud, being ignored was way better than being branded a nerd. My notes were in different colours and columns, it helped it all stick in my head when tests came around; the teacher was droning a little and was not my favourite, but the material was enjoyable enough to me on its own. 

I tucked my red hair behind my ears and leaned on one hand while I wrote. 

“Mr Lawrence?” The teacher, Mr Wilson’s, voice cracked harshly through the classroom, breaking my concentration, and I saw Johnny Lawrence, who sat two desks in front of me, jump in his seat a bit, clearly having not been paying attention. “Are you still with us?”

“Yes, sir,” he said, running a hand through his hair. 

“Good, perhaps you’d like to have a go at my question: how do you think gossip plays into the plot of the play?”

I looked at the back of his blonde head and there was a long pause that said he had no idea how to answer. It was baffling to me why that would be when it was most of what we’d been talking about for the last two weeks. I bit back my desire to put my hand up, not out of a sense of showing off, more out of wanting to break that uncomfortable tension when someone clearly did not know how to answer a question and everyone was silently waiting. Jerk as he was, I kind of wanted to help him out. 

“I’m assuming you’ve actually  _ read _ the play, Mr Lawrence,” the teacher said, adjusting his wireframes on his nose.

“Yeah, I have, I just uh-”

“Well if you’ve read the play and still have no understanding of it then perhaps you need some extra help,” okay, I felt pretty bad for him at that point, it seemed mean of Mr Wilson to call him out like that in front of everyone, “Miss Parker?”

When he said my name I went a bit pink in the cheeks from surprise; everyone was looking at me, suddenly. 

“You wouldn’t mind helping out your classmate this afternoon to earn a little extra credit, would you?”

Well shit, I wanted to say, yes I really would mind doing that, Sharon and I had plans to go to the burger place after school and then back to hers to smoke some weed. I guessed that answer probably wouldn’t go down well with the teacher though.

I looked over at Johnny who was looking at me with a displeased grimace on his face that pissed me off, as if this was my idea.

“Of course not,” I forced a smile and shrugged my shoulder. 

“Thank you, Mr Lawrence, please go with Miss Parker to the library after class and see if she can illuminate your understanding before the test that I’m sure I don’t have to remind you is next Friday.”

Johnny’s friend, I think his name was Tommy, snickered and batted Johnny on the arm, glancing back at me, and I think I heard a quiet _ ‘screw you’  _ from Johnny. My nostrils flared when I felt like I was being mocked and I went back to my notes, wishing everyone wasn’t still looking at me. I knew Mr Wilson liked me because I was good at English Lit, but he was absolutely tone deaf if he thought that had been a good way to go about things. 

I was distracted for the rest of the class, dreading having to go up to Johnny and take him to the library like _ I  _ was a teacher. He probably wouldn’t even come, just run off when the bell rang and make his excuses later. That would be fine by me, it wasn’t like it’d be my fault.

When the bell rang and we all filed out though, he did wait by the door, leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed and a completely pissed off expression on his face.

“Hi,” I said, forcing another smile, unsure of what to really say. 

“Let’s just get this over with, alright?” he grumbled and left the classroom ahead of me, having me follow. Annoyed that he was acting like I wanted to be there any more than him, I tucked my hair behind my ears and followed, having to practically jog to keep up with his pace. He was easily 6’0 and I was only 5’3. 

The library was empty, thank god. If anyone saw me talking with Johnny Lawrence alone they would hound me about it for weeks, I would never hear the end of the jokes. We found a table in the study room by a window and sat in the worn-out chairs at either side of the low table. I ignored Johnny’s disinterested expression when I laid out the books and my trapper keeper in front of us; he shrugged off his red Cobra Kai jacket and slung it on the chair behind him. He smelled good, I’d give him that at the very least, whatever cologne he was wearing gave off a fresh scent when his jacket was off. 

“So uh, it’s probably best to start with making sure you know the key themes,” I said, unsure of myself, “once you identify about 3 or 4 themes to talk about you can basically build your whole essay off your interpretation and say whatever you want.”

“Uh-huh,” Johnny looked boredly out of the window and draped a leg over the side of the chair arm. I bit back my irritation at his aloofness. At least I hadn’t been wrong for judging him as a dickhead from a distance. 

“Yeah, so, like Mr Wilson said about gossip, that obviously plays a big part in basically every aspect of the play. Both in the romance and the comedy.” 

He didn’t even bother making some noise in response that time, just tapped his foot and acted like I didn't exist. Annoyance shot up my neck and I resisted the urge to throw the book at his stupid face. 

“Okay,” I sat back and rolled my eyes; the change in my tone must’ve caught his attention because he looked at me then, “do you think I wanna goddamn be here in the library with you right now? I know you don’t know me but I actually do make plans for Friday nights too, so why don’t we just get this over with so next time there’s an English class it looks like you at least  _ tried _ to listen to me. I’m sure whatever girl’s waiting for you can manage another half hour without you.” 

I looked back down at my notes with irritation and he didn’t say anything for a while, still looking at me. When I finally looked at him again there was a small smirk on his lips.

I raised my eyebrow,  “Yes?”

“Nothin’,” he held up his hands and sat up straighter, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, “I just thought you loved all this studying stuff.”

I frowned and found a fresh sheet of paper. It would probably be worth starting simple and just talking him through the themes one by one, “I don’t know how you thought anything about me when we’ve literally never talked.”

He didn’t respond to that for a second and I saw his adam’s apple move in a swallow when I glanced at him. 

“I just mean like in English, you always know the answers,” he said with a shrug.

“It’s not because I study all the time, it’s just because I like it,” I used my red pen to write ‘misunderstanding’ on the sheet, “and it’s not that hard if you actually read the material.”

He went quiet at that, and there was a sheepish look on his face when I looked at him. It only dawned on me then that he hadn’t read the play at all. 

“Shit,” I said and crossed my arms, leaning back in the seat again, “well I don’t know where to start if you haven’t even read the goddamn thing.” 

“You curse a lot,” he said, looking like he was trying and failing to hide his amusement, “I’ve never heard you curse.”

“Again, we really don’t know each other,” I said, probably a little meaner than I meant to. I looked down at my watch and sighed. It was already 3:30 and it would take forever for him to read the thing - it would also take a long time for me to even explain the whole thing to him so he could believably relay it to Mr Wilson, “why the hell haven’t you read it yet?”

“I’ve got better things to do,” he said like it was obvious, “I don’t know why we have to read that boring old crap anyway.”

“The test is next week!” I pointed out. “Aren’t you trying to go to college? You can’t afford to fail right now.” 

“Alright,  _ mom _ ,” he said impatiently and picked up my notes, “just tell me what I need to know.” 

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, “Okay, let’s start at the beginning then, I guess.”

So I ended up talking him through the entire plot, as succinctly and as well as I could. To my surprise, he actually did seem to be listening other than the times his attention would break and I would click my fingers to get him to stop staring out of the window. He would ask me clarifying questions, frown when he didn’t understand something, but he was engaging way more than I assumed he would.

Much as I hated to admit it to myself, he actually wasn’t that bad to talk to. He could even be kind of funny. He also wasn’t  _ bad _ to look at… not a totally awful sight to have to be around for a while. 

Before we knew it, it was past 4:30pm and we had been at it for over an hour and a half. I only noticed the time because Sharon came in the library and I knew her AP calculus class must’ve been over. I could see the surprise on her face when she saw who I was with and came over, moving her teased bangs out of her bespectacled face.

“I thought you’d have gone home already,” she said to me as if she wasn’t totally distracted by the company I was keeping. 

“Uh, no, Mr Wilson wanted me to help Johnny out with something,” I said, not embarrassing him with specifics, “we’re pretty much done now though.” 

“Hi Johnny,” Sharon smiled at him and he smiled back in a tight way that didn’t look real.

I started to tidy my notes and books into my trapper keeper, “We can meet up again before the test if you want, up to you.” I hoped he’d say no.

“Yeah, I guess,” he shrugged, back to that aloof way of acting, “you wanna give me your phone number?” 

Although I wasn’t looking at her, I basically felt Sharon thrill with excitement beside me. I don’t know why she was, it wasn’t like he was asking me for anything other than free tutoring. While I wrote my number down on a piece of paper, Sharon looked at him, worrying the hem of her skirt nervously. 

“Do you have plans tonight Johnny? Me and Jenna were thinking of going to Golf ‘n’ Stuff, maybe,” she said, which was a total lie, we never went there. We had been planning on eating burgers and getting high in her car. 

“Uh, yeah I don’t know yet,” he shrugged and stood up, putting his jacket back on, “might see you there.”

It annoyed me how disinterested he seemed in talking to her when he had been perfectly fine talking to  _ me _ before. 

“Yeah, sounds great,” she smiled, showing her braces. He just nodded and took the piece of paper I ripped off with my phone number on it, tucking it in his pocket. It annoyed me when he didn’t thank me or even really say bye when he left the library. It was like he thought he was too hot shit to be remotely polite.

Sharon was giddy on the way out of the school, wanting every piece of tiny, boring information.

“I can’t believe Johnny Lawrence has your phone number in his pocket, he might call your house,” she said. 

“Yeah, can’t wait to be stunned by his witty conversation,” I said and went around to get in her passenger seat, “honestly don’t you think he was a little rude to you?” 

We got in the car and she considered it for a moment.

“I don’t know,” she shrugged, but I knew she was smarter than that, “maybe that’s just his personality.” 

It bothered me that she didn’t seem to care that he’d been so impolite to her.

“Trust me, he doesn’t have a lot of personality to speak of,” I told her, which wasn’t entirely true, he had made me chuckle a couple of times, mostly by accident. We drove away from the school and were halfway home when I remembered what she said.

“We’re not going to the Golf ‘n’ Stuff tonight by the way,” I said, opening the window and leaning back in the seat.

“What? Why?” She protested.

“Are you on crack? We never go there, it sucks,” I said, looking at her incredulously, “people only go there to show off their cars and neck in the parking lot.”

“And you would  _ totally _ hate to neck with Johnny Lawrence?” She asked me sceptically and took a pack of cigarettes out of her glovebox. 

“Ew, yes, I  _ would _ hate that, and I’m pretty sure he would too,” I said and lit it for her while she was driving. I didn’t smoke cigarettes, personally, weed on the weekends and maybe a few beers were it for me. 

“I don’t know, he was looking at you a lot,” she smiled slyly. 

“I was sitting directly across from him, Sharon, where was he supposed to look?” I really had not got any kind of flirtatious vibe off of him - it was usually exclusively nerdy guys that were into me and showed it anyway. He may have been a dick, but the guy could have picked any girl in school and had her tripping over her feet to get to him, including my best friend beside me. 

“I’m just saying, I felt a vibe, and you know you’re really pretty,” she shrugged, “but I suppose he does have that natural smoulder.”

I snorted and pulled the lever of the seat so it was practically laying down. Tired from the week at school and the extra almost two hours I’d spent that day. 

Sharon dropped me off at home so we could both change before going out that evening. My mom was always out on Friday night, she was always out most nights, really, and I preferred not to be sitting in the house on my own waiting for her to come home drunk. That was why it didn’t really matter if I stumbled in myself reeking of pot, she never noticed. Sharon’s parents were a little more attentive than my mom and they were a lot richer than us, living over in Encino Hills, so her house was big enough that she could successfully sneak in and out at the weekends without them noticing she was gone.

It was hot, so I took a shower and put on a pair of high waisted denim shorts and tucked my white Bowie t-shirt into them, finishing the whole thing off with sneakers and a ponytail to keep the hairs off my neck. The kitchen was a mess, empty pizza boxes and beer bottles all over the counters, so I cleaned up quickly and left a note for my mom on the fridge before Sharon came back a couple of hours later, _ ‘Out, will be home late, don’t worry.’  _

As soon as I saw her, I knew we would be going to the goddamn Golf ‘n’ Stuff because she had made way more effort than me. Her hair was big and curled and she was wearing her favourite pink sweater. My protestations made no difference, and we were pulling into the busy parking lot just as the sun was going down soon enough. 

“So, what do we do now?” She asked when we got out of the car and crossed to the lit-up building. Nearly everyone around us was from our school, I had no idea how it had become the place everyone went on the weekend. 

“Stand around and wait for our future husbands I guess,” I said sarcastically, “let’s just get some food okay? I’m starving.” 

We found a free picnic table out front and Sharon waited there to hold it for us while I got in the long line for the food window. I couldn’t stop the bad mood setting in, it just made no sense to me why standing around there and hoping someone came up to talk to us was supposed to be fun. I counted the crumpled up bills in my hand when I got to the window, triple checking I had enough money while the guy squirted mustard on my hotdog and ketchup on Sharon’s. 

When it was time to pay, I felt someone bump my shoulder and stand beside me. I looked up in irritation. 

“Let me get that for you,” Johnny smirked down at me and took a ten from his wallet, handing it to the cashier before I could protest. Not that I really wanted to protest, free food was free food.

“Uh, thanks,” I said, surprised, and picked up the two cardboard trays. 

“No problem, it can be your payment for tutoring me earlier,” he was suddenly being nice again for some reason and I couldn’t help being a little weary about it. 

“Sure,” I said and looked him over a second as we moved away from the window for the next person. He still had his red jacket on, but his hair was messier than it had been at school, shaggy around his ears, a black band around his forehead. 

“I probably will call you tomorrow about helping me out again,” he said quietly like he didn’t want anyone who might be eavesdropping to hear, “I gotta pass that class.” 

“Alright,” I said and wondered why he was still walking with me back to our table. He barely even registered Sharon when I set down our food and looked up at him with some expectation that he was going to say bye or something. It was a little awkward, really.

“Uh, you wanna come over and hang with me and the guys?” He gestured over his shoulder to where his bright red Firebird, almost the exact same colour as his jacket, was parked with the top down. There were three girls in the back whose names I didn’t know but who I recognised were part of the popular clique, and the boys from his karate studio that always flanked him were either stuffed in the seats or leaning against it. 

I glanced at Sharon who could clearly see she was being ignored and wondered if he’d even realised she was there or if he was purposely excluding her. 

“I’m good, thanks for the hot dogs,” I swung my leg over the picnic table seat and sat. 

“Are you sure?” He leaned on the edge the table beside me and looked down with a little smile that I was sure did wonders with other girls. It was that he actually had his back to Sharon now, completely ignoring her, that solidified that going over there and being one of his groupies was the last thing I wanted to do. 

“Yep, Sharon and I have other things to do after this,” I said, making a point of looking at her. Johnny glanced over his shoulder at her then in slight recognition before standing up straight.

“Alright,” he gave me a last look, “I’ll call you.”

I watched him walk away back to his car and noticed his friends looking at me, which made me feel a little embarrassed. When I turned back to Sharon she looked dumbfounded.

“Why did you say no?” She asked. I picked up my hot dog and took a big bite.

“You did notice he was only asking me, right?” I said through a mouthful, too hungry to have manners, “he’s rude as hell.” 

“I wouldn’t have minded,” she shrugged and tucked into her own, always carefully trying to eat around her braces. That bothered me, that she wouldn’t have minded. I didn’t feel like causing an argument by saying anything, but I definitely would have minded if  _ she’d _ abandoned me to talk to some hot idiot. 

The more time we were there, I somewhat understood the attraction of going. We saw a few people we were friendly with around school and chatted for a while - a boy in my math class, Jesse, who made no secret about having a crush on me last year, sat beside me for a while. Our relationship was friendly enough, he was cute with his tan skin and dark curly hair, but I wasn’t shy about telling someone I wasn’t interested. He made a point of hugging us all when he left like I didn’t know it was mostly directed at me, and I rolled my eyes at Sharon. 

We picked up a couple of milkshakes, her treat, before we left. 

“Can we please go smoke now?” I whined after a while had passed and we were sitting alone. “This is getting old fast.”

“You don’t want a game of mini-golf?” She asked, smiling as we cleaned up our food remains and tossed them in the trash. 

“Maybe  _ after _ we get high,” I said and sipped my strawberry shake. 

“Genius,” she chuckled and we made our way back to the parking lot. Johnny’s car was still there, all his buddies surrounding it. He was sitting behind the steering wheel with his foot up on the dash and I could tell he was looking at us as we walked by.

“Hey, Johnny was just talking about you,” his friend Dutch slung his arm around my shoulder in an over-familiar way given we never spoke, guiding me over to the group of them.

“Good for him,” I said before Johnny could say anything, just staring daggers at his laughing friend. 

“You’re not interested to know what he was talking about?” He raised his eyebrow as he looked down at me, glancing from my shoes up to my chest.

“It’s real interesting,” Bobby said from the passenger seat and they all laughed again. Being laughed at, or about, was not something I appreciated. Johnny batted his friend in the arm with the back of his hand but didn’t say anything, which annoyed me even more. 

“I’m sure it is,” I ducked out from his arm, “I’m good though, thanks.” 

I went to walk away with Sharon but Dutch called my name.

“You sure you don’t want to come hang out? This thing goes fast,” he tapped the side of the car. Sharon reached out and squeezed my hand encouragingly. I considered them for a moment, I really did not want to go with them at all, they were acting like dicks. But I glanced over at Sharon and she looked so hopeful. She always wanted to get in with the popular crowd, I never really got it.

“Only if my friend can come,” I said, once again aware she wasn’t being addressed. They seemed to consider her for a moment. 

“I guess, as long as those things aren’t gonna get stuck in anyone’s hair,” Dutch pointed at her braces and laughed, they all laughed, and I didn’t even have to look at my friend to know she was crushed. Hot anger went through me and I distinctly had the image in my head of kicking the Firebird’s mirror off. It was that  _ Johnny _ was laughing too that got me, when he had just been so _nice_ , when he had  just been asking me for a _favour_. I looked at him and his stupid smile and wanted to get up on the hood and kick the windshield in. 

So I did the next best thing to criminal damage and dumped the entire milkshake in his lap, just let the cup fall out of my head and explode on the seat between his legs. His friends apparently thought that was the most hilarious thing they’d ever seen when he jumped in his seat from the cold as it covered his jeans and the front of his precious jacket.

“What the fuck?” He shouted, looking genuinely angry at me. That was fine, I was angry too. 

“Enjoy failing all your classes, asshole,” I put my hands on the side of the car when I snapped at him, feeling how bright red from anger I must’ve been, I looked at Dutch, really wanting to punch him, “and fuck you too.” I settled for a shove instead. 

I took Sharon’s arm and led her away from them quickly, a chorus of laughs and jeers behind us as we beelined for the car. I wasn’t entirely sure Johnny wouldn’t chase me and demand I pay to clean his upholstery, so I was quick about getting in, taking her car keys and driving for her.

I didn’t look at her until we were pulling out of the parking lot, my heart racing with anger and adrenaline. We’d been friends for years, I knew when she was trying not to look upset, fiddling with her fingers in her lap.

“Screw them,” I said definitively, “screw them.”

“It’s not a big deal…” She said weakly and I scoffed in frustration.

“Sharon, stop it,” I said firmly, “you can’t just be okay with it when people talk to you that way. It is a big deal and they’re fuckers.” 

She went quiet and I stayed quiet too, pissed off and upset on her behalf. While we were stopped at a red light, she opened up her glovebox and took out the little bag of pre-rolled joints we hid in there, putting it between her lips and lighting. Then she laughed out of nowhere and I knew it couldn’t be the weed yet.

“What?” I asked, looking at her.

“You dropped your milkshake on Johnny Lawrence,” she said, then laughed again, “you are so dead.”

I couldn’t help but break into chuckles too and took the joint when she handed it to me, taking a quick drag while I found somewhere quiet to pull in. 

“Shit, maybe,” I said, wondering how much that car cost, “did you see his face, though? Worth it.” 

Sharon wheezed out a laugh at the thought and I broke into giggles myself.

“Getting ice dropped directly on your dick cannot feel good,” I said and she laughed harder, covering her face with her hands. 

“He wasn’t even the one who said it, you should’ve thrown it at Dutch,” she pointed out as I turned off the road to a nice lookout point over the city and parked, “he’s the biggest jerkoff of all of them.”

I sighed and leaned back the chair so I could stretch my legs out, switching on her cassette player. Springsteen played through the speakers, pretty much the only album we’d listened to all year and never got sick of for a second.

“True, but I didn’t sit with Dutch for two hours trying to explain Shakespeare to him today,” I said, shaking my head still in disbelief that he’d just let his friend mock mine after that, “I mean, what a prick.”

“Yeah,” she finally conceded and took a drag, “what are you gonna do if he calls you and asks for more tutoring?”

“Uh-huh,” I said sarcastically and rolled my eyes, “I can  _ definitely _ see that happening now.”


	2. Hottie with a Firebird

So, Johnny Lawrence must have been a bigger idiot than I thought, because the next day, Saturday morning, I had my mom calling me across our little one-story house that someone was on the phone for me. I left my bedroom in my pyjamas and found her standing in the kitchen, looking a little annoyed that she had been woken up, hair a mess and makeup smudged under her eyes. Hungover, definitely. 

“It’s a boy,” she said, phone pressed to her chest and looking a bit amused, “he sounds cute.”

“Great, I’ll see if he wants to go out with you sometime,” I whispered and she snorted and handed the phone to me, trudging back into her bedroom. I knew who it was before I put the receiver to my ear and considered just hanging up. Probably calling to rage about his car or his dry cleaning. 

“Hello?” I answered and sat up on the kitchen counter.

“Hi, it’s Johnny,” well, he didn’t sound like he was angry, his voice was quite soft, actually, “I uh… I was just calling to see if you were free to come over and help me study for this test today?” 

I couldn’t help but scoff, “You’re kidding, right? Do you have short term memory loss or something?” 

He sighed on the other end of the line.

“Dutch is an asshole, alright?” He said like that was a defence, “And I’m not mad about the whole milkshake thing.”

“Oh _ , thank you _ ,” I said sarcastically, “do you know how lucky you are that I didn’t put my foot through your window?” He was making me mad again and we weren’t even in the same room, “you and all your little jerkoff friends making fun of her… Does it make you feel good to do that? I  _ should’ve _ smashed something on your car.”

My ranting was cut off by the little breath of a chuckle I heard on the other end and my mouth actually dropped open. I glanced at my mom’s bedroom door, aware that I couldn’t yell like I wanted to. 

“Are you seriously laughing at me right now?”

“No, no,” he was laughing though, I could almost see his stupid face and his perfect teeth in my mind's eye. 

“Okay, screw you, bye,” I got off the counter to go to the phone on the wall and hang it up, but I heard his voice on the other end say, _‘wait, wait!’_ and, against my better judgment, I put it to my ear again. 

“Are you there?” He asked, not laughing now.

“Yes,” I snapped.

I heard him sigh again and the receiver shuffle like he was sitting down.

“Look, I’m sorry, okay? You’re right, we were being assholes,” he said, “just… I really can’t fail this test, Wilson is dying to flunk me. I need your help, I’ll even pay you.” 

Honestly, that did prick my ears up; I hadn’t had a job since the ice cream place I worked weekends at closed. All the money I had at that moment was what I could pull out of the couch since my mom was a waitress so we really weren’t an ‘allowance’ type of family, either. 

He could obviously hear me considering it, because he said, “$10 for an hour?” 

“$30,” I said, unable not to smile to myself. 

“$30!?” He repeated.

“You’re not in a position to negotiate here,” I pointed out, “you can ask somebody else who knows the material like I do within the next week…” 

“Alright, Jesus,” he said and I thought I could hear him smiling a bit, “what’s your address? I’ll pick you up.” 

Johnny was clearly in a rush because he told me he’d head over right away. I knew I had a little time to get ready, we lived on opposite sides of town. In my bedroom, I put on a pair of high waisted blue jeans and a black vest, ignoring the voice in my head that sounded like Sharon telling me to try a little harder if I was going to be hanging out with him. It was a stupid thought, him being good looking wasn’t going to make me forget I didn’t like him. Money was money, and I wanted a car.

I wrapped my hair up in a bun and put on a little makeup. My eyebrows were fair, like the rest of me, and had a tendency to barely show up in the bright light. I was just wrapping my hair into a bun and finding my sunglasses when my mom called that someone was there for me. 

She was standing in the middle of the living room with a cup of coffee in her hand, looking out of the window. 

“You’ve been keeping secrets from me,” she said when I went in.

“Have I?”

“You didn’t tell me you were dating a hottie with a Firebird. I’m proud of you,” she bumped me with her hip and I looked out of the window too. Johnny was pulled up outside, top-down, one arm out of the car and tapping on the door. I couldn’t deny it, he  _ did _ look like a hottie, like something out of a magazine, in that car, in his white t-shirt, with that stupid black tie around his head.

“I’m tutoring him for an English test,” I said, finding my school bag on the couch and slinging it on my shoulder. 

“Is that what you’re calling it nowadays?” She smirked, amused with herself, and I rolled my eyes and went for the door, “Wait.”

She stopped me with my hand on the handle.

“You do have condoms, don’t you hun? Because he’ll tell you he doesn’t like to wear one but-”

“Mom!” My face flushed red, her boundary skills had always needed work, “I’m seriously just tutoring him, he’s a total jerk. I’ll be back soon.”

I didn’t give her time to say anything else that would embarrass me, just left in a hurry and crossed the dried-out brown yard, putting on my glasses on the way. Johnny watched me sling my bag in the back seat and get in the passenger side. When I saw him raise his hand in an awkward wave, I looked over and saw my mom and the front door in her thick robe, waving. 

“Oh Jesus, just drive,” I looked straight ahead and slumped back. 

“Okay,” he did as he was told and pulled away down the street. There was an awkward quiet between us for a while, as he drove but I let it ride. It was his fault there was an atmosphere between us, not mine. 

“Was that your mom, then?” He asked. Not the best conversation starter but I couldn’t really think of much better myself. 

“Yeah, she was amazed I had a boy picking me up,” I said, trying to get comfortable in the seat.

“You’ve never had a boy pick you up before?” He asked, glancing over at me. 

“Not ones who look like you driving cars like this,” I said without thinking.

“Ones who look like me?” He asked, and he had a little smile on the corner of his mouth that he wasn’t trying very hard to repress. I felt myself flush and was glad I had big black sunglasses on to somewhat hide it. 

“You know,” I glanced at his hand on the steering wheel and up the length of his arm which looked… Strong... “sporty.” I shrugged nonchalantly. 

“Right,” he said and I pretended I didn’t notice him smiling in a pleased-with-himself way in my peripheral vision. We drove into Encino Hills, which I was familiar with because of Sharon. It didn’t surprise me that he lived there, even without his car and his clothes, he gave off rich boy vibes.

Still, when we arrived at his house and pulled up the long driveway, I could not believe how huge it was. We got out and I looked up at it, pushing my sunglasses up onto my head.

“Holy shit,” I said, looking up at the white brick. It was literally a mansion. Sharon’s house was nice, but this was ridiculous. Johnny didn’t say anything, he just led the way up the front steps and through the front door into the large foyer. It was all hardwood floors and huge open space, with the kind of stairs that looped round so the landing overlooked the reception area.

I looked over towards the kitchen, trying not to appear as nosy as I felt like being, and saw a grand piano illuminated by some big open windows. Rich people actually had grand pianos in their houses, who would’ve thought? Johnny obviously noticed me staring and I made an effort to close my mouth when he smiled at me a bit with his hands in his pockets.

“No one’s in right now, we could go for a swim,” he nodded over his shoulder to the big glass doors that lead to a swimming pool. Honestly, it was a hot day, and that sounded great, but the last thing I wanted him to think was that we were somehow friends just because I was there.

“But all our books would get wet,” I quipped and walked by him to the staircase, “I’m guessing your room is up here.”

He sighed and followed me reluctantly, “Yeah.”

It was mind-boggling how many rooms there were upstairs, you could’ve fit my entire house in his reception. Unsurprisingly, his bedroom was as huge as the rest of the place, with a big double bed and a plush beige carpet. It seemed almost too grand for a teenage boy, only the movie posters and the trophies identified it as something other than an adult’s room. The shelving unit was against one wall and completely overflowing with trophies, some almost as tall as me. There were a few for other sports, but the vast majority were for karate. 

I went to the shelves and looked over them while he collected his scattered books and set up on the big cushioned window seat that was more like a couch. They were all first place, the karate ones; it seemed he didn’t settle for less. There was a framed picture of him and the other Cobra Kai’s, some I recognised, some I didn’t, in black, armless karate outfits, looking serious; I couldn’t blame them, their teacher looked scary. 

“You done snooping?” He asked, but he was smiling a bit when I looked at him. 

“Yes, thanks,” I said and went to him, sitting across from him on the window seat and crossing my legs under me. It was weird to think I’d thrown a milkshake at him just the night before.

“Okay, so, please tell me you’ve read at least some of it now,” I said, laying out my notes and the book itself.

“I’ve skimmed it,” he shrugged. 

“Alright,” I said, that was something, I supposed, “let’s talk about it then.”

Although I’d suspected he’d been lying when he told me he’d skimmed it, he actually did have a fairly good recall for the plot and characters when he started talking about it. I got him to try making notes like I did, colour coded so the points would stick in his head, trying to break down themes and characters. It was weird that he apparently struggled so much in class because I really didn’t find it that hard to get him to understand certain things. Maybe Mr Wilson was just a crappy teacher. 

There was a certain point I could tell he was getting bored though because he started giving monosyllabic answers and drawing on his paper.

“Johnny, come on,” I complained. 

“What? We’ve been doing it for like two hours, I’m getting it, aren’t I?” He protested and started to untie his shoes, “Can’t we take a break?” He toed them off so he could cross his legs under him comfortably.

“Alright,” I conceded, getting a little bored myself, “I can just go if you want, if you think you’re-”

“No, no,” he said a little too quickly, then seemed to catch himself, “no I uh, there’s still some stuff I’m not totally clear on, we can get back to it in a minute.” 

“If you say so,” I said, and leaned back against the wall behind me.

I think he realized then that not talking about Shakespeare was a bit of a mistake given that we really did not have that much else to talk about. He tapped his hands on his calf and glanced out of the window, and it occurred to me that I’d never seen him look anything but completely sure of himself. 

I decided to put him out of his misery, “So, how come you’re rich?” I asked. 

He snorted and looked at me, “You’re not supposed to ask that, apparently,” he said, “but my stepdad is like a big Hollywood guy.” 

“Oh, cool,” I said, “do you ever get to meet anyone famous?” 

“No,” he shook his head, “he kind of likes to keep his work separate from us.”

His adam’s apple moved and he glanced down and I kind of got the impression he didn’t want to talk about him.

“Do you have any siblings?” I asked, pretty sure that he didn’t since it was a Saturday and the place was dead silent.

“No, just me,” he said, “you?”

“Nope, thank god,” I said with a little laugh.

“Why?”

“You saw our house, right? I’ve got no interest in sharing a room,” I said self-deprecatingly. 

“Yeah I was kinda surprised when you said you lived there,” he said, clearly not noticing himself putting his foot in his mouth. 

“Why’s that?” I asked, cocking my head. He seemed to realise then, scratching the back of his head.

“You don’t look like, you know…”

“Poor?” I asked, knowing that’s what he was thinking, “Should I wear rags like a Victorian orphan?” 

“Shit,” I wondered if I was imagining the little blush colouring the tops of his cheeks, “I didn’t mean it to sound like that.”

“I know, I’m just messing with you,” I said, uninterested in making him suffer, “can we get some food in your huge kitchen, please? I’m starving.”

It was still incredibly weird being in his house, being around him at all, really. Almost like he was famous or something, which I really hated myself for buying into like everyone else. Sharon would die when I told her where I’d been all day, if she hadn’t already called and been told by my mom I’d driven off with some blonde guy in a red Firebird. I leaned my elbows on his counter and watched him make us some peanut butter sandwiches. 

“You were really mad last night,” he said; I’d wondered if he was going to bring it up in person.

“Well yeah, Sharon’s my best friend,” I shrugged.

“I know,” he said, licking some peanut butter off the tip of his thumb, “I don’t blame you for going off, I just didn’t know you had a temper. You’d make a great Cobra Kai if you were a guy.”

“Well, I’ll cut all my hair off and try out sometime,” I quipped. It was quiet then, maybe because we were both thinking about the fact that we had yelled at each other just the night before. 

I wished we were talking because when we were quiet all there was to do was stare at him, and staring at him was extremely distracting. He looked good in white, it made his skin look even more tan, and his t-shirt clung to the planes of his muscles of his chest and shoulders like he’d planned it that way. I rarely ever noticed that kind of thing, but I found myself watching how nice it looked when the tendons moved in his arms as he cut the bread in half.

Luckily, or unluckily, dependent on perspective, the front door opened and broke that train of thought. An older man in a suit came in with a woman who was a fair bit younger and obviously Johnny’s mom. She was beautiful and blue-eyed, with familiar bright blonde hair flowing over her shoulders. Her dress was long and flowy, and expensive-looking and the kindness of her face was offset by the stern countenance of her husband beside her.

“Johnny, I didn’t know you had a guest,” she said brightly, looking at me.

“Yeah, this is Jenna, we’re working on an English thing,” he said, only half telling the truth, which telegraphed to me that he was not telling them how close he was to failing the class. 

“Hi,” I said with a smile and a small wave.

“What happened to ‘Ali?’” His stepfather asked, “You after getting one in every hair colour?”

My cheeks went pink and I saw Johnny’s face turn stony.

“Sid,” his mother admonished quietly, “you know they broke up.”

I laughed nervously, sensing an immediate tension in the room, “Yeah I’m not - I’m not Johnny’s girlfriend or anything, we’re just doing a Shakespeare thing…” 

“Well it’s nice to meet you, honey,” she tapped my arm gently on her way past to kiss her son on the cheek, “do you two not want something a little healthier for your lunch? I can make you some-”

“They’re fine,” Sid said dismissively, “can’t you tell he’s in a hurry to get back upstairs with his girlfriend?”

Embarrassment flooded through me again and I wondered if his mom was going to say anything. She didn’t, she just rubbed Johnny’s arm like she knew he would be getting angry and kept a stoic silence. 

“She just told you she isn’t my girlfriend. Don’t you listen?” He snapped.

“Who the hell do you think you’re talking to, boy?” Sid’s voice got a little dangerous and I was pretty sure I’d never felt so uncomfortable in my life. I half thought the guy was going to hit Johnny right in front of me. 

“Come on, now,” his mother said softly, “Jenna doesn’t want to watch you boys argue.”

Of course, it wasn’t my place to say, but I thought she could’ve stood to be a little tougher on her husband than that. I picked up our two plates, desperate to get out of the room. 

“Uh, I actually have to be home in a couple of hours so we better get back to it,” I said, looking over at him, “you coming, Johnny?”

Johnny stared at his stepfather hard for a moment and the tension in the room could be cut with a knife, the weight of whatever was going on between them that I didn't understand hanging in the air. Eventually, he did come over to me and lead me out of the kitchen and back upstairs. I couldn’t have been happier to be back inside his room and away from that atmosphere. They clearly did not like each other.

I noticed Johnny clenching and unclenching his fist and I didn’t know him well enough to know what to say.

“Always got to goddamn try and embarrass me,” he mumbled, closing the door behind us. He went to his bed and fell on his back, and I stood in the middle of the room, not really sure what to do. 

“Eh, parents,” I shrugged like I hadn’t noticed how nasty the man had been. He _had_ been deliberately trying to embarrass him, it was obvious, “they all have issues.” 

“The issue is the guy fuckin’ hates me,” he said simply, pinching the bridge of his nose like he was getting a headache. Again, I remembered that I had  _ thrown a milkshake at him, _ and then I was standing there in his room, feeling actually sorry for him. He looked upset and I couldn’t blame him, the guy had been a jerk for no reason.

With a sigh, I went and sat on the bed beside him, not too close.

“Do you like your dad?” He asked me out of nowhere. I swallowed and thought about it; it was an odd thing to talk to him of all people about.

“He was never interested in being part of my life,” I said; it didn’t really upset me that much now I wasn’t a child anymore because it was hard to miss something I’d never had. It didn't come up now we were too old for parents' days and playdates.

“Really?” Johnny said and I messed with the rip in my jeans.

“Yeah, he was like a one night stand with my mom when they were super young. She told him she was pregnant and never heard from him again,” I chuckled a bit at how ridiculous it sounded, “I think he lives in Canada now or something.”

Johnny went quiet for a moment, clearly not knowing to respond. 

“Sorry Sid embarrassed you,” he said, looking up at me.

I shrugged and lied, “He didn’t.”

“He did,” Johnny said, “you went all red.” 

As if on cue, I blushed again and looked away from him. 

“Well, implying that I would ever date you is very offensive,” I covered with a joke and he snorted and sat up beside me, looking slightly less annoyed. 

“Thanks,” he said sarcastically and nudged my arm with his elbow. We were quiet for a moment, long enough for me to realise that I was sitting on Johnny goddamn Lawrence’s bed with Johnny goddamn Lawrence. Sharon would die if she could see me. 

When I looked up at him, he was already looking at me, like  _ really _ looking at me. He glanced down at my lips and then back up at my eyes and I felt pure panic go through me and stood up quickly from the bed.

“Almost forgot the sandwiches,” I said, going to the window seat, all my skin hot and my pulse thrumming in my neck.

Johnny stayed sitting for just a second before he followed me.

“Uh-huh, yeah,” he sat down across from me and picked one up, eating about half of it in one big bite. I tried not to laugh at how fast he ate, filling his cheek like a hamster when he chewed.

“Your mom seems nice,” I told him honestly, wanting to lighten up the mood again and hoping we could both ignore there had potentially been a bit of a moment there. I chalked it up to him being upset and decided to leave it alone.

“She is,” Johnny said and I could tell from the way he’d brightened up when he saw her that he loved his mom, “just bad taste I guess… Me and her both.” He untied the black band from around his head like it was irritating him and dropped it on the floor, running a hand through his hair. 

I frowned and took a bite of my own sandwich, “I don’t think anyone would consider Ali Mills bad taste, Johnny.” 

He went quiet for a moment as if he was considering how much he wanted to talk to me about it. 

“I’m not saying she’s not pretty or anything,” he said, and an unpleasant feeling turned over in my stomach that seemed to come from nowhere, “I really liked her… That’s why I don’t get why she can just dump me and mess around with some guy like two days later.”

“Oh, I didn’t know about that,” I said, “we’re not really friends.”

“Well, yeah she did and I’m pretty sure they’re together now or whatever,” he bit into another sandwich, “so clearly she didn’t really give a shit about me.” 

I considered him for a moment, he actually did look hurt. 

“That’s not necessarily true,” I said, “just because she likes this guy doesn’t mean she never liked you.”

“Well she’s sure acting like it,” he said, sounding a little huffy, “she always judged me, I don’t even know why I ever liked her.”

I chewed my sandwich, not really knowing what to say. We weren’t part of the same groups, I didn’t know their relationship or what it was like.

“Well, that’s good, I guess, better to feel like that than be upset about it if she’s moved on,” relationships, in general, weren’t anything I could give much decent advice on, I’d never really been in one. I’d done stuff with boys, made out a lot and had sex twice, but never anything serious, never anything I would get genuinely angry or upset over. 

“Right,” he said and nodded, “you’re right, screw her.”

“That’s not exactly what I was saying but fair enough,” I said with some amusement and looked back over my notes, “shall we get back to the Bard?”

Johnny frowned “The who?” He asked through a mouthful of bread. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, like a lot of people, I've gone back to The Karate Kid lately and really _noticed _Johnny Lawrence a lot more. This story just poured out of me (five chapters already, actually), over the course of the last couple of days and I'm really enjoying writing it. Would hugely appreciate some comments so I'm sure I'm not only writing this for myself.__
> 
> _  
> _Thank you for reading!_  
> _
> 
> _  
> _< 3_  
> _


	3. Blithe and Bonny

I went to Johnny’s house almost every evening that week, except for the one day I insisted on hanging out with Sharon and could actually have sworn he sulked about it. It always went about the same, we would study for a while, eat junk food, and then he would inevitably coax me into doing something else like playing on his Atari for a while. I always protested for a bit, unconvincingly, but gave in eventually. He was very hard to say no to and I think he knew it, and honestly, he was fun to hang out with. 

It was like there was this persona that he would switch on at school and then switch off when we were at home. He could be kind of goofy in a way I suspected a lot of people wouldn’t believe. 

At school, the Halloween party was all anyone was talking about and that included Sharon and me. People really went for it at our school and planned their costumes for weeks. Honestly, it was one of the few things I was actually willing to be childish about, Halloween, I loved it. I loved the movies and the costumes and the atmosphere, everything. Since we were senior’s it was a known fact that the punch at the party would end up spiked and at least someone would end up passed out on the dancefloor. It was going to be on Saturday, the day after the English test, and I worried Johnny would be more focussed on that than studying. Then I noticed I was worried about him and tried to stamp _that_ thought down with a steel-toed boot.

“You would look so good as Jessica Rabbit,” Sharon said, fluffing the end of my red hair.

I laughed, “Yeah and get groped all night? Pass,” I looked through my physics notes in my locker with a frown. I was more of an artsy person, anything too technical really had a tendency to fry my brain. “I don’t even understand what this means anymore.” I held the sheet up to her, she had a mind for that stuff, always had since we were kids.

“You’ve written it in a super complicated way, here,” she had me turn around so she could rest the paper on my back and write on it, “ooh, you should get a blonde wig and a white dress, you’d look exactly like Marilyn.” 

“Not exactly,” I chucked a bit but considered it; Marilyn could be fun. Marilyn with freckles. The wig would itch all night though, I knew that from experience. 

The bell rang. I had a free period before my class but she had to rush off, “ _Shit_ , you’ll do great!” She pushed the half-finished notes back in my hand and ran off, leaving me groaning in frustration. I probably wouldn’t fail, but I would only just scrape a pass.

Next to me, a boy I didn’t recognise with a nasty looking bruise over his eyebrow opened up his locker. 

“Oh, I haven’t had a locker buddy on that side for a while,” I said.

“Oh yeah? I’m new,” he said, “Daniel, just moved from New Jersey.”

“Jenna and I can tell,” I said in reference to his thick accent and he laughed a little and put away his books, “already managed to get into an accident?”

He reached up and touched his injury absentmindedly, “Yeah, yeah, something like that.” He said noncommittally. 

“You don’t know anything about physics, do you?” I asked, putting away the useless notes; he seemed nice enough to joke around with. 

“Not my speciality, sorry,” he said with a smile, closing his locker.

I jumped a bit when a hand closed my locker for me above my head and I looked over my shoulder to see Johnny there, looking none-too-happy and scowling down at Daniel.

“What is your problem, kid?” He asked him like we weren’t the same age, “One girl not good enough for you?”

“Hey man, we were just talking,” he put his hands up defensively and I found myself completely arrested with shock, not quite understanding what was going on, “I didn’t know, alright?”

“There’s nothing to-” I was cut off my Johnny again. 

“Yeah right, you just can’t help girls falling all over you, right?” He mocked with an unpleasant smirk. 

“I was just being friendly, Jesus,” Daniel slammed his locker shut, and I began to get an awful idea of where that bruise might have come from. 

“Well she’s not interested in you being friendly, Larusso,” Johnny seemed a lot bigger and scarier than he did the day before - he seemed like a whole different person, in fact.

“Forget it, man, forget it - nice to meet you,” Daniel said quickly to me before walking away in a rush. I turned to face Johnny with an openly shocked look on my face, not even knowing what to say to him.

“What the hell is your problem?” I snapped when I found my voice, quietly enough so everyone wouldn’t look at us.

“What? He’s the guy dating Ali and now he’s coming on to you too? He’s a creep,” he said defensively. 

“He wasn’t coming onto me for christ’s sake we had a two-second conversation because his locker is right next to mine,” I frowned deeply, “ _not_ that it’s any of your business.” 

He looked at me for a long moment and I couldn’t quite place his expression, bright blue eyes searching mine. 

“None of my business?” 

“Of course not!” I whisper yelled, chin lifted to look at him, “We aren’t even _friends_ , Johnny, you and your buddies were picking on my best friend two goddamn days ago.”

“I apologised for that,” he said, “and you - you came to my place - you never said you hated me.”

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair in exasperation.

“I don’t hate you, Johnny, I just don’t know you that well,” I said, “I especially don’t know you well enough for you to be acting like _that_ because someone talked to me, asshole.” 

“You don’t know him, alright? He sucker-punched me at the beach, y’know?”

“Uh-huh, and what were you doing to him?” I crossed my arms, and got my answer when he didn’t respond, glancing down at his shoes, “and I suppose that bruise on his face has nothing to do with you either.” 

“ _I_ didn’t hit him,” he said sheepishly and put his hands in his pockets like he was in trouble. That was a loaded statement, I knew, we both knew that any one of his fellow Cobra Kai’s would happily punch someone on his behalf if he asked.

“Well, good for you,” I said with a sigh, “I have to get to class.”

Johnny caught me by the arm, gently, and got me to turn back and face him in surprise. He looked like he wasn’t sure why he did it, or what he was going to say. I moved my arm out of his hold, not remotely feeling like having him touch me after that.

“Listen don’t -” he licked his lips and ducked his head so he could talk to me more quietly, “I’m sorry, alright? That wasn’t cool.” 

“No, it wasn’t,” I said, wishing I could just walk away from him like I would anyone else.

“You’ll still tutor me, right?” He asked. I suspected he knew what he was doing when he looked at me with big, hopeful eyes. 

“I will if you keep paying me,” I said, straightening my bag on my shoulder, “can you just try to stop acting like an asshole, please?”

He smiled a little bit and bumped my arm with his, “I’ll try my best.” He actually winked before he left and I rolled my eyes that he thought that was enough to get him out of trouble. 

It was only when he walked away that I realised how many people were looking at me and barely bothering to pretend like they weren’t. I whispered a curse to myself and adjusted my bag on my shoulder before heading to the next class.

* * *

The physics test was brutal and I left not feeling great about it. No amount of studying could ever make it fully make sense to me and I felt like I would be lucky to even get a D at that point. Sharon met me after the class. Somehow, it had gotten all the way to her that I’d been seen talking to Johnny Lawrence in the courtyard and we had been standing very close. One person even swore they saw us kiss, but that was debated.

“This school is psychotic,” I complained, “turning an argument into a makeout session.” 

“There are worse things for people to think you’ve done,” she said as we made our way down a staircase and out of the building. 

“I don’t know about that,” I smirked and she chuckled. 

“Is loverboy taking you home today?” She asked when we got outside, heading in the same direction as everyone else to the parking lot. 

“Please don’t call him that but yes,” I said, “well, taking me to his place.”

“I know, I was just messing with you, he’s right there,” she said and pointed towards the edge of the parking lot where Johnny stood leaning against his bike without his usual posse surrounding him. It was just him and Bobby and I could see him looking for me.

“Oh Jesus, his motorbike?” I groaned and went over to him with Sharon. “Where’s your car?” I asked. 

“At home,” he said, acting like he didn’t know what the problem was but terrible at hiding his grin, “hey Sharon.” 

I think we were both surprised that he said hello to her, and she took a second to respond.

“Hi,” she said.

“Do you need a ride? Bobby can take you,” he said, gesturing to his friend. It was kind of funny to me that he would just offer that on his behalf and know that his friend would do as he was told.

“I have my car,” she said, “I think I’d be a little scared to be on one of those.”

“They’re not so bad,” Bobby said, “we’re definitely bringing them to the Halloween party, scare the shit out of people on the way.” 

Sharon laughed more than I did at that and Johnny looked a little embarrassed.

“What are you going as on Saturday?” Johnny specifically asked Sharon, but he glanced at me as if to see if I’d noticed. Proving he was capable of not being a dick, I supposed. 

“Uh, I don’t know yet, maybe Madonna,” she shrugged and then checked her watch, “ _shit-_ ”

“Piano lesson,” I said, knowing her schedule as well as she did, “hurry, she’ll bite your head off.” 

I noticed Bobby watch Sharon go and made a mental note to mention that to her. He pulled away not long after on his loud bike and Johnny looked at me expectantly, holding a spare helmet up that he’d obviously specifically brought for me. 

“I’m scared,” I admitted and pulled my hair out of its scrunchie, shaking it loose around my shoulders. I noticed him watching me, his eyes following my hair as it moved and I felt warm under the attention. 

“Just hold onto me,” he said and mounted the seat, pulling on his own helmet, “I’ll protect you.” 

I quickly pulled on my helmet to cover my blush and reluctantly swung my leg over the seat behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist, which was a weird sensation. If people were talking before, they definitely would be now.

Johnny tugged on my wrists to pull my arms tighter around him. 

“You gotta really grab if you don’t wanna fall off,” He laughed a bit, and again I was _very_ glad most of my face was covered up. As soon as the bike got off the parking lot and on the road I really did feel like I was going to fall, and I found myself squeezing my knees into the outside of his thighs and pressing my face against his back as much as I could. 

I could feel him laughing at how tightly I gripped when he picked up speed, especially when we got up into Encino Hills where the roads were smoother and longer. When I got used to it some and finally dared to open my eyes I kind of understand why he liked it. It was quite exhilarating to see the buildings whip past, weave through cars stuck in traffic and feel the air on your skin, but the sensation that I could slip off the seat at any moment never really went away. 

When we finally pulled in at his house, I was breathless, both glad and a little disappointed that it was over. 

“Oh my god,” I said, taking off the helmet while he did the same.

“Good, right?” He grinned over his shoulder at me and got off, then held out his hand to help me do the same. I took it, trying not to overthink that it felt kind of nice to take his hand, and straightened out my jeans when I got off. 

“It was fun but I’d still take the Firebird any day,” I admitted, following him up the front stairs, slipping my hand from his and wondering if he’d noticed that he hadn’t let go. 

“Eh,” he made a noise of disagreement, “I think I prefer the bike as long you’re on it,” he said as he unlocked the front door, and I couldn’t take that as anything other than openly flirtatious. Usually, my instinct would be to say something back, either flirt as well or call him out for doing it, anything to knock him off balance. 

But it made me nervous, the idea of flirting with him, and it was crazy-making because I was still unsure if I even liked him as a person. So I left it alone and followed him into the house. He told me to go up to his room while he got snacks from the kitchen and I set us up on the window seat again, still pretty much in awe of his place.

I wondered what he would think of my house. One-story, tiny, a mess if I wasn’t there to clean it up. Could he resist being judgmental? Would he say something mean? I would’ve been hurt if he did but not embarrassed, my mom wasn’t perfect, but she did try, she gave me the best she could manage.

His room was a little messy, which _did_ remind me of home. I instinctively picked up the books scattered on the floor and moved the Converse I almost tripped over. My mom was the same way, dropping things wherever she felt like and leaving them there. I went to his bed, barely thinking, and straightened up the comforter. It was when I moved the cover that I saw something sticking out from under his pillow and pulled it out, which was incredibly nosey, but I had barely realised I was doing it, in my defence. 

“Oh shit,” I whispered and covered my mouth when I laughed; it was a magazine, Hustler or something, still open on a picture of a red-headed girl with huge fake boobs and pale skin, hair in pigtails and dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz but, of course, totally naked apart from the sparkly red shoes and the ribbons in her hair. I shoved the magazine away like it had burned me and ran to the window, desperately trying to stop the gasping laughs leaving me that I’d found his porno mag and that he’d been so terrible at hiding it. 

He came into the room, somehow balancing a plate of sandwiches, chips, a box of twinkies, a big bottle of soda and two cups. He kicked the door shut behind him and I tried my best to fix my face straight, desperately trying to get the picture out of my head of him in that bed a few feet away from us… _enjoying_ that magazine.

“There’s no way you eat this stuff all the time,” I said, thinking about how hard his abs had been under my forearms on the way here, which didn’t help matters. 

“I don’t tell my Sensei about it but yeah, I do,” he kicked off his sneakers and got comfortable across from me, “I’ve always been able to eat whatever I want.” 

“Well you’re lucky,” I said and took a twinkie out of the box, “this will have me looking about 5 pounds fatter tomorrow.”

“Shut up,” he protested, “you -” he cleared his throat, “no you won’t.”

I ate it anyway and drank some of the soda he poured out. It started to feel, as we got talking about the play, that he might not really need me there. He wasn’t giving college-level responses or anything, but I would’ve been very surprised if he failed given how quickly he’d seemed to grasp it. He wasn’t stupid, really, not all the time anyway. Still, I wasn’t in any rush to leave, not yet. We read it out loud to each other a little, to help remember the quotes, and he mumbled all his lines, embarrassed that I was making him do it. Honestly, the whole exercise was more to make me laugh than to help him out. 

“You must be able to deliver it better than that,” I teased, opening the window to let a breeze in.

“I’ll try harder if you do the accent for Beatrice,” he said with a challenge in his voice.

I snorted and picked up the book, clearing my throat, “Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, be thee blithe and bonny…”

Johnny laughed at my terrible posh British accent and I broke then as well, snorting and putting the book down. Hadn’t I been mad at him about something earlier? It was hard to remember. 

“So, what would you say if Mr Wilson asked you that same question he asked the other day, about gossip?”

“I’d say, blah blah blah, misunderstandings form the basis of whatever, do you want to get in the pool?” He smiled in amusement at himself.

“I don’t think you’d want to see Mr Wilson in a bathing suit,” I said, not humouring him.

“Come on… We’ve done a little studying, my legs are aching from sitting,” he leaned forward on his knees towards me, “it’s heated, like getting in a bath.”

That did sound really good, actually. But I actually didn’t have anything to wear. 

“I don’t have a swimsuit,” I said, mirroring him. 

“Even better,” he joked and laughed when I batted his arm with my hand. Clearly, he was in the mood to be a flirt that day, I tried not to take it too seriously, “wait here.” He got up before I could protest and left the room in a hurry, leaving me to sit there and wait. I decided not to go snooping again, lest I find anything else I shouldn’t.

He was back soon enough, with a green bathing suit in hand.

“My mom says you can borrow this, she hasn’t worn it for years,” he said and handed it to me.

“I can’t borrow this off your mom,” I said, acting like it was because it seemed rude and not the truth, that his mom was pretty skinny and I was not; I wasn’t _fat_ , but I wasn’t skinny either. Built sturdy, my mom said, like that was anything a girl wanted to hear. 

“She doesn’t mind,” he said with a bright smile, “you can use the bathroom to change.” 

I could see there was no getting around it, and it was hard to argue with him when he was beaming like that. It was ridiculous, really, that I was suddenly the type of girl that could be convinced by some nice teeth and bright blues. 

As I suspected, the thing fit, but only just, and the tops of my breasts were way more exposed than I usually liked them to be. I hoped to god Johnny’s mom or stepdad didn’t actually see me on the way down to the pool. I kind of hoped _Johnny_ wouldn’t see me, somehow, walk around with his eyes shut or something. 

I looked myself over in the mirror and moved my hair over my shoulder. I had the same insecurities with my body that any girl might have: I was pale, I had fat on my belly and arms, cellulite on my thighs, but I didn’t hate it like I had when I was 14 and it all started changing. I distinctly remembered how upset I’d been when one summer I suddenly had breasts and stretch marks, and my mom told me it was normal and I would get used to it. She also told me I should feel lucky to have big boobs, that girls would kill for that, which had made me feel not one bit better.

Thinking about that stuff, examining my body so closely, wasn’t helping. The swimsuit looked good on me, though I turned around to see just how much of my buttcheeks were exposed.

“Stop overthinking it,” I told myself in the mirror, “stop it.” 

If it were any other person I was getting in the pool in front of I wouldn’t overthink it so much, but this was Johnny. Not only had he been flirting with me, making me nervous, but he also didn’t have one flaw in _his_ physique. 

I cursed and left the bathroom, feeling strange walking through his house so underdressed. Thankfully, there was no one around when I went down the stairs and headed for the big glass doors to the back. Johnny didn’t hear me step onto the tile on bare feet, and I couldn’t help looking at him for a moment.

He had clearly already been in the pool, his hair wet and pushed back from his face. His tan skin actually _glistened_ and I would not have been surprised to see him on one of Sharon’s posters on her wall. Shoulders broad, stomach completely flat and as solid as he felt when I had my arms around him on the bike; I almost didn’t want to catch my reflection in the water and notice everything not-perfect about myself again.

“ _Fuck_ ,” I whispered to myself, I couldn’t help it. He might have actually been the best-looking person I’d seen in real life. 

Johnny finally noticed me when I padded to the water’s edge and I deliberately didn’t look at him. I didn’t want to see him appraising me like I just was him, I was pretty sure it would completely crush me to see anything negative on his face when I felt so exposed.

I lowered myself into the water and ducked under straight away to wet my hair and get it away from my face. It did feel amazing, the warm water, I wondered if he knew how lucky he was to just have it whenever he wanted. When I swam to the edge where he was and popped my head out, he was still standing there and he looked down at me with a look on his face I couldn’t place. 

“Are you getting in?” I asked, treading water since it was too deep for me to stand. I could swear I saw him swallow deeply before nodding and jumping in right beside me, splashing water all over my face, some going up my nose.

I laughed and swam away from him a little, and he sprung back up grinning and whipped the wet hair away from his face. 

“Warning next time,” I said, sniffling. 

“Where’s the fun in that?” Johnny seemed to have no trouble standing where my feet were nowhere near the ground and he noticed me bobbing up and down, chin just out of the water, “You drowning there?”

“ _No_ ,” I protested, already seeing where that was going, “I can swim, I’m just short.” I started to swim for the shallower end, but he caught me around the middle and pulled me against his side.

“No, don’t worry, I’m lifeguard certified,” he was smirking and pointedly not looking at my annoyed expression as he pulled me through the water, “don’t panic, miss.”

“I wasn’t,” I said, and moved away from him, fighting off a smile, and ducked under the surface again, making a point of swimming to the other side of the pool. 

When I popped up, I expected to look back and see him there grinning at me, but I didn’t. I only had a couple of seconds of confusion before he came up under the water behind me and caught me around the waist. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d actually screamed but I did, catching his shoulders for support when he lifted me clear out of the water. That didn’t help me though, he tossed me over his back so I dunked underneath, water going up my nose yet again.

I popped out, chlorine stinging my eyes, and whipped my hair out of my face.

“You’re dead, Lawrence,” I said over his laughs and reached for him blindly, “dead!”

I wiped my eyes off but he was already swimming away, of course way faster than I could, and he was at the other side of the pool in no time. I didn’t even bother chasing him, I just sighed and held up my hands.

“You win!” I called to him.

We swam around for a while, just enjoying the water. I did front flips and handstands and he would get out and jump in a lot, like a kid, to see how big a splash he could make. Eventually, I saw him sitting at the side of the pool, just his calves in the water and swam over to him with my mouth submerged but my nose out.

He hummed the Jaws theme and made me chuckle, and I swam up to him and rested my arms on the tile beside him instead, squinting against the sun.

“You look deep in thought,” I said, “which is weird for you.” 

He snorted and nudged me with the side of his leg, “Shut up,” he said, “just thinking about this shit with LaRusso… You really think I’m being an asshole?”

“Honestly? Yes,” I told him straight, not seeing the point in sugarcoating it if he was asking me. 

Johnny sighed and leaned back on his hands like he was annoyed with my answer.

“Look, think about it: as far as he’s concerned, he met a cute girl at the beach, flirted with her, and her ex-boyfriend came out of nowhere and started messing with him because of it,” I said and put my hand up when he started to talk, “and I don’t want to hear about him sucker-punching you, alright? You started it and you know it. I would’ve punched you too.”

Johnny lowered himself into the water next to me and bent so his shoulders were submerged, still looking thoughtful.

“I just think if you’re mad at Ali for moving on so quick… That’s not his fault,” I said and then steeled myself for the next thing I was going to say because I really didn’t want to say it. It was silly, but I felt like his answer had the potential to feel like a gut punch. 

“... And if you’re trying to get her back I don’t think picking on him is the right way to do it.”

“I don’t want her back,” he said quickly, looking at me, “I did before, when I saw them on the beach, but I don’t now.”

“What’s changed in a week?” I asked, a little amused that he was talking like this had all happened over months.

Johnny just looked at me for a moment and then shrugged and ducked his head under the water again to wet his face. 

“Breath-holding contest,” he said, completely changing the subject. 

“Okay,” I said, going with it, “I’m really good though.”

After messing around for a little while longer, we finally got out when our fingers were shrivelled and pruny. I noticed Johnny looking at me that time when I got out of the water and saw his chest move with a deep breath. Quickly, I got the beach towel wrapped around me and pretended I hadn’t noticed.

I dried off and redressed in his bathroom, my hair wet and frizzy from the chlorine, I wrung out the swimsuit the best I could over the bath and insisted Johnny let me put it in the laundry myself. That became another thing I was amazed about, a whole room just for the laundry. Johnny did not know how to use the machine. 

“We’re going back on the bike, yeah?” Johnny smirked on the way out, though I saw him get his car key out of the bowl in the foyer.

“ _No_ ,” I said and put my wet hair over my shoulder, “my hair can dry off if you drive with the top down.”

In the car, Johnny put _Born to Run_ in his cassette player and I smiled to myself because he’d clearly remembered when I told him it was my favourite album. I wondered if he’d even bought it just because of that, I hadn’t seen it in his car before.

I was keenly aware on the ride home that I really did not want to end our day just yet, but I couldn’t think of any reason to keep it going. We’d done our studying, he let me swim in his pool, that was that. 

After Friday, after the test, there would be no excuse at all.

The thought made me so sad it was jarring, and I watched the city whip by and pointedly tried not to look at him. It had literally been _days_ ; I did not understand how my feeling about him could change so quickly and I wished to god I could think of any word other than ‘crush.’ He handed me my $30 for the day and I slipped it in my pocket. 

“See you at school,” I said when we pulled up outside my house.

“Uh-huh,” he nodded, appearing on the edge of saying something else but the words never coming.

“Okay then,” I said a little awkwardly and got out, pulling my bag with me, “bye.”

I resisted the urge to look back at him when I crossed my front yard. I could still hear his car idling behind me as he watched me inside like a gentleman.

“Jenna,” he called when I was at the door, and I turned back to look at him, “you know you look killer in a swimsuit, right?

I barely had time to scoff before he peeled out, and I got the distinct feeling of a boy pulling my pigtails and running away. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're flirtingggg. 
> 
> Thank you for the positive feedback, it's so lovely to read. 
> 
> <3


	4. High School Famous

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A twofer today because I'm impatient and I just want you to read it already!

I lay on Sharon’s bed with my back near the head of the bed and my bare feet up on the wall, resting on her Led Zeppelin poster, who we were also listening to. Her parents were away for the night, so we planned to pretty much get high, watch movies and eat pizza for as long as we could get away with, whether we had school the next day or not. I think we both realised how much time we spent together in that week when I was going around to Johnny’s house more; it felt odd to hang out with someone else, and as much as I enjoyed his company, I wasn’t as comfortable with anyone in the world as I was with my best friend.

It was always my preference to hang around at her place; my mom liked to think she was still 18 and had a tendency butt in when we hung out, trying to talk to us about music and boys and telling us anecdotes about her own teenage exploits until I inevitably kicked her out. Sharon’s house was also nicer and had better snacks. 

“So he took you home on his bike, you swam in his pool, he  _ picked you up _ in his pool and told you you look ‘killer’ in a swimsuit?” She confirmed for the third time, lying on her stomach on the floor with a beanbag under her.

“Yes,” I said.

“And you’re confused if he has a crush on you?” She said disbelievingly.

“Yes!” I looked over at her, “because it’s not… He’s good looking, right? So maybe it just seems like he’s flirting when he’s not and it’s all in my head. I still think he’s still upset over being dumped by Ali, so…”

“Screw her,” Sharon said with a snort, “ _ she _ wasn’t playing in his pool the other day.” 

I thought about it for a moment. He did tell me he was over her, he was pretty adamant about that. But it wasn’t like I could forget that he was literally fighting a guy because of her just days before. I took a drag of the joint and passed it to her, replaying the day in my head. The memory of his hand on my wet swimsuit when he pulled me against his side stuck out… That was when I remembered something else and laughed aloud at the thought. 

“Oh shit, I almost forgot,” I said, looking over at her, “I found one of his porno mags.”

“ _ What _ !?” She sat up fully and giggled.

“Yeah it was  _ open _ under his pillow, this picture of a redhead girl with huge tits dressed like sexy Dorothy,” I laughed at the thought, amazed that it had completely slipped my mind. Sharon’s expression turned from hysterics to thoughtful, and I frowned in confusion at her, smile slipping. 

“What?”

“Wait so, he was jerking off to a girl who looks just like you?”

The thought had me freeze. I had absolutely not considered that at all. I supposed she  _ vaguely _ looked like me, in that she had pale skin, red hair and big boobs, but big boobs were kind of a given if you were going to be in one of those magazines.

“No,” I played it off casually, “you don’t look like every brunette in the world, right?”

“No, but there are like way more of us, it’s not that distinct a look,” she shuffled forward on her knees and rested her elbows on the bed, “did she have freckles too?”

“I don’t know,” I laughed at her questioning, “I was too distracted by the bright red bush.”

Sharon cackled at that and took another drag, “Not  _ just _ like you then, yours is more strawberry blonde.”

“Oh my god!” I hit her arm and pressed my face into the bed; she didn’t stop laughing at me.

“But he doesn’t know that yet, I suppose,” she nudged my shoulder with her fingers.

“And he’ll never know it!” I protested, “You need to get it out of your head that this is going to turn into something.”

She shook my shoulder, “Why shouldn’t it, though?”

“Because he - we don’t live in the same world. He might be nice to me but his friends are still awful, he still acts like a jerk when he feels like it. Guys like him don’t date girls like me and vice versa.”

“If I said this to you, you would tell me I was thinking myopically.”

“Dude, I’m too stoned to even remember what myopic means,” I said and let out a breath, “I’m just saying, tomorrow we’ll have that test and he won’t need me anymore and that will be it. No more playing in Johnny Lawrence’s fancy heated pool.”

“ _ Heated _ !?”

I chuckled that she took that from what I said first and foremost. She got up on the bed next to me and put her feet up beside mine, blue toenails next to my red ones over Jimmy Page’s face. 

“I just disagree, I think he actually likes you,” she said. I sighed at the thought. Did I want him to like me? Could I see us really spending time together for more than an hour or two at a time? I didn’t even know. I knew I liked it when he smiled at me and I liked putting my arms around him on that bike, that was about all my foggy brain could make out. 

“Well, we’ll find out tomorrow,” I shrugged, and we went quiet for a while, listening to the music and passing the joint back and forth. 

The last person I’d thought about like that was Jesse; when I’d found out he’d liked me, I’d considered it for a while, what it might be like to date him. He was definitely cute and we had a lot in common, and I had almost agreed to go out with him before I’d realised there was actual attraction missing from the equation. Johnny and I didn’t have a lot in common at all, I would struggle to even name a handful of things. But I was attracted to him, I definitely was. 

“Oh my god,” Sharon said suddenly, facing me, “I just realised that we definitely know who you’re going as for Halloween now.” 

* * *

Gym came before English on Fridays and it was not my favourite class. Some people took the games way too seriously and I was always kind of pleased when I could use period cramps to get out of it. Sports were at the bottom of my list of priorities. At least we were running track that day, which actually meant Sharon and I running until we were out of the teacher’s shouting range and then walking the rest of the way. 

“Are you hungover?” She asked, the sun glaring in her glasses.

“No, but you had more beers than me,” I said and touched my own arm to feel how warm the skin was; it took nothing for me to burn and I considered that I should’ve put on some sunscreen before class, “you also had a whole pizza.”

“Did not,” she protested and I laughed that she had forgotten.

“Yeah you did, you kept dipping back into the pepperoni until it was gone,” I said.

“Well, maybe that’s why I feel like I’m going to puke every time I move,” she groaned. 

“God I hate this class, man,” I said. 

“It’s not so bad,” Sharon linked her arm with mine, “until we get further round and have to run again.”

“Ugh, I can’t. My thighs are rubbing,” I complained and tugged on the bottom of my shorts. 

“Well I’ve just seen something that definitely makes  _ me _ feel better,” she bumped her elbow into my side and nodded over to the field beside us. I knew what she was talking about immediately, Johnny was playing soccer with his class, impossible to miss with that hair. He was also playing skins, of course, “that boy should just never wear a shirt.”

“I’m sure he wouldn’t if he could get away with it,” I said, thinking of him at the pool the other day.

A couple of girls jogged by us, also looking in the same direction and giggling. I wondered if he even noticed the attention he got anymore. 

We were going to keep moving when the ball the boys were kicking around suddenly hurtled towards us and I was lucky Sharon’s reactions were quicker than mine; she managed to stop it from whacking us in the legs with her foot. 

“My bad!” Of course,  _ of course _ , it was Johnny who came jogging over for it, and I made to kick it back to him. 

“ _ No _ !” Sharon whisper-shouted and picked it up instead, pushing it quickly into my hands. Damn her, she was good. 

Johnny came up to us, a little pink from running around in the sun and the tips of his hair sweaty.

“Be more careful next time,” I admonished jokingly, “I thought you were supposed to be good at this shit.” 

I threw the ball to him and he caught it, smirking.

“How else was I gonna get a good look at you in those shorts?” He said, the corner of his mouth quirking before he jogged away, kicking the ball ahead of him.

I stood in stunned silence for a moment and felt Sharon squeeze my arm, actually squealing, “Jesus Christ, let’s go,” I grumbled, face burning as I dragged her away down the track, not wanting Johnny to look back and see me staring at him and blushing like a fool. He must’ve  _ loved _ doing that, just knowing how embarrassed it would make me. At least I could mark it as the first time in my life I’d been attracted to such a cocky little shit. 

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” Sharon could not have been more excited, “and you wondered if he liked you?” 

“Shut up!” I was blushing hard, torn between grinning my face off and digging a hole in the ground to climb into. 

“Even  _ I’m _ red,” Sharon said giggling, “you lucky bitch.” 

When we were getting dressed in the changing rooms after the quickest showers we could get away with, a couple of girls I hadn’t spoken to before came up to us while I fastened up my bra. One blonde, one dark-haired, both dressed up a lot for school, I thought. They were pretty though and I tried not to be judgemental about stupid stuff like that. 

“Hey, it’s Jenna, right?” The blonde one asked, cocking her head at me. 

“Uh, yeah,” I said, sitting on the bench so I could put on my jeans.

“Is it true you’re dating Johnny Lawrence?” She asked me openly as if she were a journalist for a gossip magazine or something. 

“Nope, not true,” I said flatly, forcing a smile as I zipped up, “we’re just friends.” Even that seemed a stretch after a week of acquaintanceship, but it felt wrong to call him anything else after the talks we had and the things I knew about his home life.

“As if any girl is just friends with Johnny Lawrence,” her friend said, adjusting her big curls, and I couldn’t tell if she was joking around or if there was a bit of malice to her tone. What was it to either of them? Was it such a ridiculous idea to them that he would date me?

“Well, I really am,” I shrugged, not knowing what to tell her, “we don’t know each other that well.”

I put on some roll-on deodorant and pulled my t-shirt on, waiting for them to walk away, but they were looking at me conspiratorially like they knew something I didn’t.

“Everyone knows you’ve been going to his house, you know? He took you home on his bike the other day,” the blonde said.

“Yeah, but…” 

“And he was just totally checking you out on the track,” her friend chimed in.

I was starting to feel embarrassed at being so closely scrutinized and I was quick about packing up my gym clothes into my bag.

“If you say so,” I said, torn between being annoyed and being polite, feeling like I was getting dressed in a fish tank at the aquarium, watched like an interesting specimen. 

“Dutch says he totally talks about you all the time,” the blonde one carried on; they were both clearly amused by this whole thing, trying to needle information out of me, “his friends think you guys are hooking up.” 

My ears felt warm and I felt Sharon looking at me with concern, “Sorry, I don’t really know you guys and I don’t get why you’re asking,” I said.

“We’re just curious,” the blonde shrugged with a smile, “everyone was wondering who Johnny would pick next after Ali dumped him.”

“And we were just surprised it was you,” her friend said, which did offend me then. 

“Hey-” Sharon went to say something but I looked at her and shook my head; I wasn’t about to get us in a fight with two girls we didn’t even know in the locker rooms.

“No need to be surprised, he didn’t pick me, like I said,” I swung my bag onto my shoulder and looked at them, “if you want a shot though I can mention you to him, you know, next time I’m at his place.”

I smiled with faux sweetness and walked around them and out of the locker rooms, Sharon muffling her snort behind me.

“Bitches,” I murmured to her when we were out in the hall.

“Now they’re  _ definitely _ going to think you’re screwing him,” she said.

“Whatever, they thought that anyway,” I rolled my eyes and nudged her with my elbow, “see you after class, you’re giving me a ride home, right?”

“Giving you a ride to the costume store,” she nudged me and walked down the hallway, “don’t forget!”

I headed for English class, trying to keep that strange interaction out of my head and more nervous for the test on Johnny’s behalf than on my own. I pointedly avoided his eye when I walked by his desk, knowing he would still be pleased with himself for that little flirt from before. Also, if everyone was noticing every little interaction I had with him and talking about it, I definitely did not want a classroom full to see us smiling at each other.

Mr Wilson gave out the test questions immediately and started his stopwatch. I looked over them, then glanced at the back of Jonny’s blonde head as if I could get an idea of how he was reacting to it from that. He could do it, I knew, he’d answered all the questions one way or another when we were studying together. 

For the rest of the hour, I was too engrossed in the test to pay any more attention to him. At least he wasn’t pretending to be sick or jumping out of the window or anything, that had to be a positive sign. When it was over, we turned our papers over and waited for them to be collected. In the quiet, I started to get an unpleasant feeling in my stomach when I remembered that it was the end of going over to his place to study, that there was really no excuse for us to talk anymore.

We filed out, him ahead of me, and I only had time to feel sad for as long as that took because he was waiting for me in the hallway; I resisted the urge to smile as big as I wanted to. 

“So?” I asked, looking up at him as we walked down the hallway together.

“I think I passed,” he said, smiling, “I was so fuckin’ happy when that question about Dogberry came up, you were right about not only focussing on the main characters.” 

“Well, I knew he’d try to trip us up,” I said; he seemed happy and it was infectious.

“I think I kinda nailed that question, and the one about Hero too, it’s a good thing I called you about that yesterday,” he seemed genuinely proud of himself in a way that made my heart ache a bit when I looked at him, neat teeth showing when he smiled.

“Good,” I said and nudged his arm with my elbow when we left the building, “glad it wasn’t all a waste of time.” 

“Hey, you still got paid,” he shrugged and walked a step ahead of me so he could open a door and hold it for me.

“True,” I chuckled, thinking of the around $100 in my savings jar, care of him, “I’m glad you think you did well though,” I said honestly, no mirth. 

“Yeah?” He looked down at me, squinting against the sun on the way out. 

“Yeah,” I nodded, my throat feeling suddenly a bit dry, “I want you to do well.” 

He didn’t respond to that, but I was glad I’d said it. We headed for the parking lot and I spotted Sharon by her car, leaning against her door. 

I knew that could be it on his end, that his interest in me might be over and it might be the last time we talk. 

“I’ll see you around then,” I said with a small smile, my feet feeling a little like cinder blocks as I went to leave him. 

“Wait,” he said quickly when I started to walk away, then seemed to realise how fast he had said it, blinking hard in embarrassment, “uh - you’re going to the Halloween party tomorrow, right?”

“Of course,” I nodded, looking back at him. 

“Cool,” he seemed to let out a relieved breath, “I wanna see your costume.”

Oh, that.  I remembered the devious plan Sharon had to replicate that little magazine fantasy he didn’t know I was aware of. 

“Me too, you’d make a great Luke Skywalker with that hair,” I pointed to his fluffy blonde mop as I walked away.

“Please, I’m not a dork,” he scoffed and put his hands in his pockets before heading for his own car.

Not done with me then, I guess. 

We had to drive to the costume store on the other side of town; every senior would be at that Halloween party and most places were already picked clean. Sharon admonished me for leaving it so late, and I pointed out that I’d originally intended just to use my witch costume from last year until she became set on torturing Johnny instead. 

As if it were destined to be, we did manage to find the exact costume we were looking for, the adult version, of course, not quite as modest as the movie. I tried it on, glad to find it wasn’t as short as I thought it would be, though it was tight around the middle, and rather than the blue pinafore top going to my collar bone, it stopped under my chest so the ruffled white shirt underneath was exposed.

I smoothed the blue gingham over my stomach and looked at myself in the mirror. There would be Playboy bunnies and sexy cheerleaders at the party, I knew, but I had never shown so much of my body at school before and it was a strange prospect. It wasn’t ridiculous (certainly not like the picture we were secretly recreating), but it was definitely risque by my jeans and t-shirt standards. 

Sharon poked her head through the curtain and surveyed me.

“Oh my god, you look great,” she went inside and stood behind me, “we’ll put your hair in two braids and spray paint your boots sparkly red…” 

“You’re not spray painting shit,” I said, stuffing my breasts down into the shirt, “I only have one pair, my mom will kill me.”

“I’ll give you some then, I have a thousand,” she said and looked me over, “yeah, this’ll kill him.”

I chuckled and pulled my hair to each side to see what it would look like in pigtails, “Are we being mean?”

“Nooo,” she said immediately, “well maybe a little, but he doesn’t know you saw the magazine and he won’t work it out. You’re a redhead, you’re going as Dorothy, makes sense.”

She was probably right, I was only teasing him was all. After arguing with Sharon about her buying it for me for a bit and losing said argument, I began to take it off while trying not to rip any tight seams.

“Besides, it’ll all be worth it when you’re making out with him tomorrow night,” she raised an eyebrow. 

“Please…” I dismissed reflexively, but when she left me to change and I was alone, the idea definitely did stick in my head and I struggled to think of a reason why that shouldn’t happen. It was such a clear mental picture, the thought of him putting his hand on my jaw and leaning down to kiss me, that I found myself standing in the changing room with one arm out of the costume for a lot longer than I intended. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and all your nice comments! Next chapter is going to be a fair bit longer x


	5. Halloween and Bloody Noses

The costume came together in the end. I had my hair in two red pigtails at the sides and put on way too much blush and red lipstick to get the movie effect. I finished off the costume with my over the knee white socks, and I couldn’t help clicking the heels of Sharon’s spray-painted sparkly red boots in the mirror, snorting to myself. As much as I wished it wasn’t, the thought at the top of my mind was  _ ‘will Johnny like this?’  _ Which made me want to slap myself, but did not make the thought go anywhere. 

“Oh, my god!” I took Sharon’s hand and spun her around in my living room when she arrived to pick me up, “You look so hot.” 

She had gone for Alex Owens from  _ Flashdance _ instead of Madonna, a grey sweatshirt hanging off her shoulder, hair big and curly and wearing red pumps on her feet. Her legs weren’t bare, I assumed her mom would not have been alright with that, but she wore black leggings and the costume still held up.

“Can you see?” I asked, pointing out that she wasn’t wearing her glasses.

“Not really but it’s worth it, right?” She put her hands on her hips and posed, and it was nice to see her feeling good about herself and getting to show off how pretty she was. Sharon was really built like a model, tall and slim, it was crazy to me that braces and glasses were enough to make people not notice that. 

"Definitely," I grinned, "I would kill for your legs, man." 

“Girls, you look great,” my mom was also ready for her night out, a little tipsy already, in cat ears and a short dress, “let me take a picture.” She held up her Polaroid, wobbling a bit on her tall heels. I sighed but put my arm around Sharon’s waist while she draped hers over my shoulders, we posed and cheesed at the camera. 

“Okay, gotta go,” I said before she could try and take another one, dragging Sharon out by the wrist.

“Have fun girls, and if that pretty blonde boy tries anything, remember…” 

“Protection, I know, thanks!” I called halfway out the door and beelined for her car, slightly-too-big boots clunking on the path. 

Sharon was chuckling when we got in her car and put our seatbelts on.

“My parents have literally never mentioned sex to me,” she said as I rifled through her cassettes. 

“That’s  _ all _ she talks about,” I said, “she actually made me put a condom in my boot tonight for this party.” 

Sharon laughed at that but I pulled it out and showed her to prove I wasn’t joking, it was like a tradition that she would hide one somewhere whenever there was a possibility of boys being around.

“You’re like a year away from how old she was when she had you, right? She’s probably trying to be helpful.”

I looked at Sharon with a frown, slightly amazed I hadn’t realised that “Well, shit…” I said and put in a Tears for Fears album. 

I then rifled through her glove box and pulled out the little baggie of weed there that we had both gone in on a week ago, slipping that into my other boot. 

“In case of emergency?” She asked, lighting a cigarette while we were on the way.

“Exactly.” 

The school was very busy when we arrived, everyone filing in wearing their costumes. From the big open doors to the hall, we could see the dancefloor lights flashing and hear the music playing. We saw Jesse and his friends on their way in when we got out of the car, all dressed like Ghostbusters, and they waved to us on their way in. 

“Dorks,” Sharon said with a snort, “cute dorks though, right?”

"Adorable."

Inside, we beelined straight for the punch table, surprised we were early enough that it hadn’t been spiked yet. Not like it mattered, we would definitely know  _ someone _ who’d managed to slip in a flask of vodka or whiskey. I spotted Ali on the dance floor, laughing and talking to Daniel LaRusso who was dressed like a shower, which was kind of funny. 

“Don’t let the chicken see you!” Jesse tapped my shoulder on the way by and Sharon and I frowned in confusion at each other until we saw Oliver from our civics class get pelted with an egg. We didn't laugh _too_ much.

When we’d relaxed into the party atmosphere, Sharon and I danced for a while, giggling and spinning each other, complaining about the terrible music choices but moving along to it anyway. It was very funny to me that she could barely see and we giggled breathlessly when she stepped on my toes and held my arm tight so she wouldn’t fall. We were halfway through a Human League song when Sharon suddenly stopped and held my elbows. 

“Right behind you,” she said, squinting over my shoulder. I turned around to see a big group of boys dressed as skeletons on the edge of the dancefloor, almost indistinguishable in the same bodysuits and face paint -  almost _ - _ as if I could miss that blonde hair and those shoulders anywhere. I resisted the urge to cast my eyes down or pretend not to see him when he noticed me. I'd been wanting to catch his attention and I succeeded; he looked me up and down openly as they approached, and I saw him wet his painted lips when he was close enough to me. 

“Hey,” he breathed when he was in front of me, and I saw his adam’s apple move under his collar, eyes running over the blue gingham and down to my sparkly red boots. 

“Damn,” Dutch also looked over us both, “who’da thought, huh?” He elbowed one of the other guys and they snickered. I didn’t much mind Johnny ogling me, but the others were on the fast track for a face full of fruit punch. 

“I like your costume,” I said, needing to do something other than just being stared at, “scary.” 

“I like yours,” the reaction was pretty perfect. I liked that he seemed to struggle to know what to say and had a hard time not openly checking me out. I would've teased him about it if I wasn't enjoying it so much. 

He cleared his throat, maybe realising all his friends were around to see him acting all shy, “You wanna dance?” He asked with a little more confidence.

“Sure,” I said, glad I had enough blush on to cover my  _ actual _ blush. 

“Fuck off,” he mumbled to his friends, and I couldn’t help but giggle at how they instantly followed his order, dispersing out into the party. 

“You need a dance partner, Sharon?” Bobby asked her. 

“Uh, sure,” she said, looking pleasantly surprised. I quickly squeezed her hand so she knew I wasn’t going far, before turning to face Johnny, feeling more nervous than I had for the test the day before, more nervous than I had for ages. Abruptly, as in before the song already playing was even over, it switched over to something slow by Cyndi Lauper. I almost groaned out loud at my luck; that did not help my nerves. 

Johnny smiled a bit and hesitated for a moment before putting his hands on my waist; I looped my arms over his shoulders and tried to relax, remembering we were friends and it wasn’t a big deal. I felt like the shy virgin I definitely  _ wasn’t _ at how overwhelmed having his hands on my waist was making me. 

He seemed nervous too, though, which weirdly helped my own. 

“I think you planned this,” I joked, trying to relax.

“Well, yeah, I told the DJ to play something slow when he saw me with you,” he shrugged a shoulder and my mouth dropped open.  _ Of course he had.  _

“Oh my god Johnny, I was kidding,” I said, laughing at his little smirk.

“I couldn’t resist when I saw you in this costume,” he said, apparently gaining confidence, “I knew you were hot after the pool the other day, but…”

“Johnny…” My face felt get hot and my heart thudding in my chest. This was by far the most open he’d been and I was acutely aware that we’d never been so close for so long. My stomach was against his, and though his hands stayed respectfully on my waist, I saw him glance down at my cleavage where my chest was against his. He felt very warm and there was something so nice about the solidness of him.

“Am I embarrassing you?” He asked, a little teasing tone in his voice.

“ _ Yes _ ,” I said, looking at him like I was angry, unable to keep from smiling. 

“Sorry,” he said, though I could tell he wasn’t, “I’m glad you’re here, I wanted to ask you about somethin’.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, was wondering if you wanted to make a little more money tutoring… Maybe make it a weekly thing…” 

I looked up at him, my heart actually racing. It was a little more difficult to read his expression through all that facepaint, but I was sure I could see some tentative hopefulness there as well as hear it in his voice. 

“You… You don’t have to pay me to come over, you know that right?” I asked, distracted for a second by the blueness of his eyes when they met mine.

“I don’t mind paying you for helping me out,” he shrugged.

I wet my lips and considered what I was going to say next, “I mean I don’t need to be tutoring you to come over, either…”

He looked at me with a little surprise registering on his face.

“Really?” He asked, and his hopeful tone made me really, really want to kiss him, paint or no. The feeling hit me like a tonne of bricks. 

“Uh-huh, if - if you just wanted me to come over, not that I’m assuming that’s what you mean… But if you did, I could just come over, hang out,” I shrugged, trying not to sound as breathless as I felt. 

“I’d like that,” he said with a nod, “a lot.”

“Good,” I breathed out a shaky little laugh and glanced up to the disco ball, needing to look anywhere else than his face. If I did, I was going to end up making out with him in front of everyone and have that be all I heard about for the rest of the year; I was going to have to end up walking home smeared in black and white paint. 

“You look really good,” he said, leaning down just a little to talk to me.

“You said that,” I pointed out, biting back my grin and feeling stiflingly warm. We swayed against each other and it took all my willpower not to push my fingers into the back of his hair that looked so ridiculously soft.

“Well, it’s true,” he shrugged a bit bashfully and I felt him pull me just a bit closer, “I mean, you always do, but… I never knew Dorothy could be sexy.”

If I were feeling a little meaner, I definitely would have asked him if he was sure about that,  _ just _ to see if I could get a blush to show through that paint, but I bit my lip instead. 

“You’d make a pretty sexy Scarecrow… If you only had a-”

“Brain, yeah, good one,” he rolled his eyes while I giggled at how he knew exactly what I was going to say, but he couldn’t help smiling too. 

I relaxed a bit then, still warm and a little giddy from our closeness but not as nervous as I had been.

“So, you think I always look good, huh?” I asked, feeling bolder.

“Yeah, I first noticed you were hot in junior year but we didn’t have a class together ‘til Mr Wilson's English,” he admitted like it was nothing. 

“Bullshit,” I said, having to glance away from him then because of how the implication had my pulse racing and my stomach fluttering. 

“Not,” he said, clearly amused by my reaction, “you never hung out with us so I didn’t have an excuse to talk to you but, yeah.”

It was hard to believe him and it must’ve shown on my face because he went on.

“Okay, remember that green sweater you wore to decorate for the summer dance last year, with the big buttons?” He asked. I frowned, thinking back. I had a sweater like that but I honestly could not remember wearing it then.

“No,” I told him.

“Well, I do,” he raised his eyebrow a little, “I’ve thought about that sweater a lot.” 

I hung my head in a disbelieving laugh and covered my face with my hand. It was funny, sure, but the implication that he’d been noticing me for so long was almost too much to handle. How many times had he been looking at me and I didn’t even know? It was exciting and nerve-wracking and I knew for a fact I was insane to think I wasn’t hugely into him.

“You’re incredible,” I said, shaking my head and trying not to grin my face off.

“Thanks,” he said, deliberately misunderstanding me as we continued to dance together. When the song ended, it switched to something more upbeat and we looked at each other for a moment. 

“You wanna get out of here?” He asked, fingers twitching on my sides. I wondered if he was having the same thought process as me; I wondered if he wanted to kiss me as much as I did him. 

“Well I’ve not been here that long and this costume was kind of expensive, but… We could smoke a joint in the locker rooms and talk for a while; come back in after?” I suggested, chewing the inside of my mouth nervously, unsure how he would react to that.

I saw his eyes widen a bit and the corner of his mouth quirked in a smile, “Seriously?” It reminded me that he actually didn’t know me that well, that he was surprised by that. Getting to know each other sounded like a pretty good prospect, though. 

I glanced around to make sure no teacher’s or chaperones were watching. Quite a lot of other students were, but I’d be very surprised if they would dare snitch on him.

“If you kneel down and pretend to tie my left boot for me, you’ll find a little baggie in there,” I said, amused at how surprised and delighted he seemed, “if you want to go to the boy’s room and roll it up for us I’ll meet you when everyone isn’t watching...” 

“I didn’t expect this from you,” he said and knelt in front of me anyway, putting a hand on the laces while surreptitiously reaching inside the edge; people were watching us. He was good about hiding it in his hand though and he stood up straight and leaned towards me.

“Don’t take long, alright?” He smirked, and I nodded, feeling giddy. 

“Good thing he looked in  _ that _ boot, right?” Sharon said to me as she and Bobby danced by me, and I giggled at the thought. That would’ve definitely put ideas in his head if they weren’t already there. I decided to get off the dancefloor while I waited a couple of minutes, going off to the side and leaning against the wall instead.

I messed with the end of my pigtail, still feeling hot in the cheeks. There was no way we weren’t at least going to kiss that evening and I was more than fine with that. All I had to debate with myself was if I would let it go further than that. I wanted to. There was nothing to stop us getting in his car, putting the roof on so we could climb in the back… My mind was racing, it was hard to get over him admitting he’d been attracted to me way before we’d ever talked. 

“Hey, Jenna,” I hadn’t noticed her approaching until Ali Mills was beside me, looking annoyingly pretty in her white dress. 

“Hi,” I smiled, trying not to feel unfairly jealous that she had probably already done everything I was excited to do with Johnny that night, “you look great.”

“Thanks, you too,” she smiled and smoothed down her dress, “I just wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Okay...” I said, wondering for a moment if this was a ‘back off’ conversation. I couldn’t see how it could be, she seemed pretty into the new kid, “shoot.”

She sighed and tucked some curls behind her ear, “So I noticed you’ve been kind of friendly with Johnny… I know we don’t know each other that well but you’re a nice person, I just wanted to warn you to be careful.”

Some worry bubbled in my stomach at what that meant, “Be careful about what?” 

“I’m sure you’ve noticed he’s kind of got a temper and it can get away from him,” she said. I did almost start to panic then.

“Did he do something to you?” I asked, feeling awful that I was even asking. It didn’t sound like him, but I could’ve got him all horribly wrong.

“No, no, he would never,” she shook her head, “but Daniel? He’s had it out for him from the jump. Johnny and his friends threw him off his bike, you know?” 

I swallowed and considered what to say to that.

“Look, I did know about that and I don’t think he’s perfect, like at all,” I said, “but we’re not… We’re just friends right now, alright? And he knows he was being an asshole. He’s done with that now.”

“No, Johnny is never done with anything,” she said, looking serious, “the karate place he goes to, Cobra Kai? It’s crazy, all this ‘no mercy’ stuff, trust me.”

I could tell she was trying to be helpful, but I felt defensive of him, and I found myself not really caring about what she said. It didn’t seem right to not allow him to change and I couldn’t just switch off the fact that I liked him, either. 

“Ali, I know you’re looking out for me, and thank you, seriously, but he’s not going to mess with Daniel anymore, he’s-”

The sound of sneakers squeaking on the floor interrupted us, and everyone looked over to see Daniel, shower curtain around him, sprinting through the hall with Johnny and the rest of his skeleton-clad friends chasing after him. Johnny was soaking wet, hair dripping and makeup smudging down his face. 

Ali reacted to the sight before I did, holding out her leg to trip Johnny up, sending him falling onto his front and his buddies flying into his back with him.

She smiled and I looked at her with shock and a bit of anger, barely understanding what was going on.

“Why the fuck did you do that?” I snapped at her, instinctively rushing to Johnny to go and help him up.

“Are you okay?” I asked him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Back off,” he snapped at me and got to his feet, running after Daniel with his friends and leaving me standing there, too shocked and embarrassed to move. I pointedly closed my mouth and did not look back at Ali. My heart, that had just been racing because of him, fell into my stomach. It was like he'd totally forgotten about me in those five minutes. Why did he have to be chasing LaRusso down right when I had been defending him? Saying that he wasn’t going to do that anymore?

I was acutely aware that since everyone thought I was there with Johnny, they were all now assuming that my date had abandoned me to go and fight someone. My ears and face felt hot, and I wished I could sink into the ground.

Not looking at anyone, humiliation burning me from the inside out, I headed to the dancefloor to Sharon, who was also standing there with Jesse watching that unfold, along with everyone else. 

“Yeah, I’m going home,” I said, feeling tears stinging the back of my eyes.

“Wait, I’ll take you,” she said, putting a hand on my arm. 

“No, no, please, don’t waste your costume, alright? I feel like walking, honestly,” I kissed her cheek quickly and left in a hurry, needing to be out of that school as fast as possible. 

There was no sign of them outside, and I wasn’t about to run around looking for them and make myself a bigger idiot than I already was. I swallowed the lump in my throat and refused to let the tears break for a boy who hadn’t even kissed me yet, who I had only been interested in at all for a few days. 

It was cold on the walk home and I hugged my arms around myself, angry and embarrassed at myself that I was wearing that stupid costume for him of all people. Sharon’s too-big shoes were rubbing my feet, and I was relieved to get home, wishing I could stay there and never go back to that school again. How much could he really like me if he was willing just to run off and leave me there? 

Mom was out when I got in and I was glad to find a note telling me she was staying at a friend’s. I kicked the boots off and slammed the door behind me, locking it before going straight into the bathroom to practically rip the costume off and take a shower. It was a good thing I was there, really, mom had left makeup and hair products scattered all over the counter, curling iron still on.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes when I switched it off, annoyed that my night had gone to that, alone, being the adult of the house.

I took out my pigtails while I waited for the shower to heat up, and said “Fuck you,” out loud to Johnny like he was there when I stood under the spray and washed all the makeup off. Maybe I had been wrong, maybe he couldn’t change at all and had no desire to. Why would he? He had everything he wanted while acting like a complete jerk, it wasn’t like he had a reason to be any different. 

Once I was on my bed and in my plaid pyjamas, I did my best not to replay all our conversations in my head. Every time he’d looked at me like he wanted to kiss me, every time he’d smiled at me as though he could genuinely be a sweet and kind person. Then just twenty minutes ago, when he’d danced with me and seemed so happy that I still wanted to hang out with him.

“Fuck you,” I mumbled to myself again and went to the living room.

I wasn’t going to let him completely ruin my Halloween, so I looked through our VHS’s, mostly taken from various rental stores and never returned. I settled on  _ Halloween _ , of course, and made myself a big mug of hot chocolate and a bowl of popcorn while feeling thoroughly sorry for myself. The image of whatever he and his friends were doing to Daniel kept stabbing at me, especially after what Ali had said about the ‘no mercy’ stuff.

I lay down on the couch and tried to enjoy the movie and push it from my mind, reaching down to the floor where my bowl of popcorn was and taking big handfuls. 

It was around the fifth time I’d seen the movie so I was no longer scared by it, but that didn’t stop me from jumping out of my skin when there was a knock at the door around an hour in. I froze on the couch for a moment and considered just ignoring it; it was too late for trick or treater’s and my mom was staying over at her friend’s apartment - she would be hours from being done getting wasted anyway. 

When they knocked again, I went to the door, hand on the baseball bat propped behind it when I looked through the peephole. It was the last person I wanted to see, of course, Johnny, leaning on the door frame with one hand, head hung.

At least I could say, “fuck you” to him through the wood, which I did.

“Jenna, please,” he sounded pained, “please.” 

I crossed my arms and frowned at the door, feeling that it was unfair for him to do that to me, that he knew I wouldn’t just turn him away when he sounded so pained. With a sigh, I opened the door; I may as well give him a piece of mind while he was there. 

“You’re not coming in. I’ve literally never been so embarrassed in my fucking life. Did you know I was actually halfway through defending you to Ali? How dare you do that to me? You made me look like a total idiot you complete assho-” 

When I could see Johnny properly, I noticed that his makeup was nearly all gone and that his nose was bleeding, a nasty bruise already forming around his eye shining through the remainder of the white, “oh, shit.” He was an awful condition and his nostrils flared, not meeting my eye, looking almost ashamed. 

For a moment, I forgot about what he’d done and that those injuries were likely his own fault, and I took his wrist and led him to the bathroom. We didn’t speak as I used a soapy, wet towel to remove the rest of his face paint and get the blood off his nose. LaRusso was obviously better in a fight than he looked.

“God, Johnny,” I whispered sadly and found the first aid kit in the mirror cabinet over the sink. He sat on the side of the bath and waited quietly while I dabbed antiseptic on the cut on his eyebrow, jaw ticking and arms crossed. I got worried when he let out a little hiss and put his hands to his ribs.

“Show me,” I said, crossing my arms. He did as he was told, reaching back to unfasten the zip of his costume and peel it down to his waist, lifting his vest to show me. There was a bruise forming on his stomach too, just over his ribs; there was  _ no way  _ Daniel had done all that, “do you need to go to the hospital?”

“No, nothing’s broken,” he shook his head, sounding sure. I supposed he would probably know given how much fighting he did. 

“What happened?” I asked, not entirely wanting to know but feeling that I needed to.

He just shook his head and avoided my eye.

“Johnny,” I said more sternly and he finally looked at me then. That’s when I noticed there were tears shining in his eyes and I didn’t know what to say anymore. The last thing I had been expecting was to see him cry. 

The sight of him so upset was, honestly, heartbreaking, and enough for me to completely forget I was angry at him for just a moment. My throat dried up and my heart clenched. 

“I’m sorry,” he said and pulled me between his knees, wrapping his arms around my waist and burying his face into my stomach. I heard him sniffle and his arms held me very tight. A lump formed in my own throat at the emotion coming off him. Swallowing, I reached up and stroked a hand through his hair. 

I wasn’t going to tell him it was alright, because it wasn’t. Whether or not he had gotten himself beaten up for it, he had his friends had clearly gone for Daniel, five on one. But I couldn’t push him away when he needed me to hold him so much, either, so I stroked his hair and let him cry on me for a while, wondering when the last time he’d let himself do that was.  It was difficult not to cry too, at how tight he held onto me and the deep breath he took against me. A few minutes passed before he finally pulled back, eyes cast down, embarrassedly wiping the tears off his cheeks in a hurry. 

“I couldn’t go home,” he said, shaking his head, sniffing hard, “I know you don’t wanna see me right now but mom and Sid would’ve freaked out if they saw me like that.” 

“Alright,” I said, wanting to stay angry with him but hating the redness around his eyes and the look on his face.

“I just wanted to see you,” he reached over and took my hand very gently in both of his, “I shouldn’t have run out on you.”

“No, you shouldn’t,” I said, not taking my hand away, “but I think that’s probably pretty far down the list of bad things you’ve done tonight, right?” 

Slowly, after rubbing his thumbs over my knuckles, he let go of my hand. He sighed and stood up and tied the arms of his skeleton suit around his waist so it wouldn’t fall down. The bruise around his eye looked angry and purple and I didn’t see how he was possibly going to talk his way out of it. 

“Thanks for helping me out,” he said softly, “I’ll just sneak in the back at home.” 

Johnny left the bathroom and I followed him, every intention of just letting him leave even though my chest still hurt for him and my stomach turned over with worry. I didn’t want him to go, I really, really didn’t want him to go. He had acted like an idiot and got himself hurt for it and yet I still wanted him to stay with me.

In the living room, I caught his arm despite my better judgement and made him stop.

He looked vaguely surprised, eyes shining with expectation at me.

It was maybe naive of me, I had never been so easily swayed away from being mad before. But I really did not think he was putting it on or forcing tears to try and guilt me. I’d met his stepdad, knew what he was like, knew he would chew him out for this worse than I had and make him feel even more terrible. His upset was obviously very real, I could feel it; turning him away just seemed cruel. 

“Do you like this movie?” I asked, looking over at the TV where  _ Halloween _ was still playing. 

The corner of his mouth quirked a little bit and he nodded, “Yeah.” 

“Then you might as well stay ‘til it’s over… Since you’re here already,” I said and let his arm go, heading for the kitchen. It was the same room as the living room, separated by the counter, definitely not the opulence he was used to, “you want a hot chocolate?”

There was too much going on that night for me to overthink the idea that he might be judging my house, but I was conscious of how strange it felt to have him at my place for a change when I saw him standing there in my living room with his vest on and his Halloween costume around his waist. 

Once his drink was made, we sat beside each other on the couch, keeping a reasonable distance. I had my feet up and my back against the armrest, and he relaxed into the cushions after a while, stretching his long legs out in front of him. He was probably confused as to why I was letting him stay and I couldn’t have given him an explanation if he’d asked. I cared about him, was the truth, but that seemed like too big a thing to say.

Around the time Michael Myers started chasing Laurie into the wardrobe, I nudged his leg with my foot and got him to look at me.

“Why did you go after Daniel?” I asked him, unable to let the night pass without finding out. 

He sighed, “Do we have to talk about it?”

“If you want to stay here, yeah,” I said flatly and rested my chin on my knee. 

Johnny messed with the loose fabric on the arm of the chair before he spoke, setting down the popcorn bowl back on the floor; the room was too small for a coffee table. 

“I was done with him, I really was,” he said, “all I was thinking about was, you know, smoking a joint with you,” his sheepish glance let me know that smoking a joint wasn’t the only thing he’d had in mind either, “and that’s when he came in and blasted me with the hose.” 

“So you jump him, for that?” 

“He was trying to embarrass me in front of you,” he said, defensive, “I can’t just let someone do that to me.” 

“I’m not saying you didn’t have a right to be pissed off about it,” I said, “I’m saying I don’t understand why you had to react  _ that hard _ .” 

I saw his jaw clenching again and he looked away from me, “You’re not supposed to show the enemy mercy.” 

“The enemy?” I breathed out an incredulous laugh, “Jonny, he’s a skinny kid who sprayed water on you, please.” 

Johnny didn’t say anything, looking somewhere on the carpet and still messing with the loose fabric.

“I also don’t get why you think I would care that you  _ got wet _ , don’t you know me at all?” 

There was a long quiet where neither of us said anything, I went back to watching the movie, not really paying attention to it. 

“Are you mad at me?” He asked, sounding suddenly like a little boy and not the tough young man he was supposed to be. 

“ _ Yes _ ,” I said because I obviously was and he looked at me, “because I think you’re actually a decent person and I don’t get why you do this stuff.” 

“‘Cause I’m an asshole?” He suggested with raised eyebrows, using my preferred word for him. I couldn’t help but snort a bit like he clearly hoped I would. “Look, whatever happened tonight, I got it back, okay? That’s all you need to know.” 

“Actually it’s not all I need to know,” I said, “I need to know that you can stop doing this shit, Johnny. Because I actually like being around you but I can’t do it if you’re gonna keep flying off the handle like that.” 

Johnny glanced down for a moment then back at me, “You like being around me?” There was a little smile on his mouth.

“Of course that’s all you heard,” I rolled my eyes at him and turned back to the TV, arms crossed.

“No, no, wait,” he shuffled close to me on the couch and rested his hands on my knees, “I heard you, I did hear you.” 

“Really?” I raised my eyebrows disbelievingly and lowered my knees so my legs were crossed instead, he kept his hands on me gently. 

“Yeah, I swear,” he said, “I’ll keep it in the dojo from now on alright? I don’t - I don’t want you to stop wanting to be around me.” 

My cheeks felt warm again and he wet his lips, “Because I wanna be around you all the time,” he smiled a little bit.

“Really?” I asked and I could feel my pulse in my neck pick up, annoyance falling away, totally, painfully captivated by him. 

“Yeah... kinda understood  _ Much Ado _ after that first time in the library.” 

Again, my mouth dropped open in surprise, but the admission made my heart race too. The whole week hadn’t just been a favour for him, he’d wanted me there, he’d been looking for an excuse to be around me for a long time, apparently. 

“Johnny,” I shook my head at him with faux admonishment. 

“Can you blame me? Look at you,” he said, glancing over me in my very unsexy plaid pyjamas. I felt hot all over at that, very aware of how close we were sitting. 

“Stop that,” I said quietly, unconvincingly. 

“What? I’m embarrassing you again?” He looked quite pleased with himself, then he reached up and touched my cheek with his thumb. “Yeah, you’re blushing.”

I narrowed my eyes at him and pretended he wasn’t doing anything to me.

“As if  _ you _ could make me blush,” I said, the nerves making me want to verbally run away from the road we were going down even though I started to feel arousal creeping between my legs and a buzzing through my body.

“Ouch,” he laughed a bit, “I’ll work on that.” 

We went back to the movie, the atmosphere in the room softened after that, but I definitely wasn’t paying attention at that point, not after all that he’d said. I looked over his handsome face and couldn’t physically resist any longer. 

“Kissing me would probably make me blush, if that’s what you’re going for,” I said, not engaging my brain first. It was satisfying to see  _ him _ go pink in the cheeks though, surprise registering on his face. 

“Yeah?” I saw his chest rise and fall in a deep breath. 

“Yeah,” I nodded and he immediately closed the distance between us, planting his hands at either side of my hips on the couch when he kissed me. His lips were soft and his body was warm where it leaned over mine, I couldn’t resist pushing my fingers into his thick hair like I'd wanted to all week and kissing him back insistently. It felt good, really good, which was a relief given how much I’d thought about it for the past couple of days.

His lower lip was between mine and he made a little noise in his throat when I tugged him closer and lifted my knees either side of him so that he could lie over me; his tongue pushed into my mouth and touched mine and it was my turn to moan - he was a good kisser, goddamn him. Why did he have to be  _ good _ at everything?

He pulled away to breathe for a second and it came out satisfyingly shaky against my mouth, we looked at each other for just a breathless second before he kissed me again, a hand holding my jaw gently. It was completely dizzying and I was too lost in it to even hear the movie anymore. When he lowered more of his weight onto me, leaning my head back into the cushion, I noticed Johnny’s thin costume and my pyjama bottoms did not leave much of a barrier between us; he was obviously excited, pressed right there against me. Definitely not the most innocent of first kisses.

“Shit,” he pulled back, out of breath when he noticed and gave me an apologetic look, “Sorry.”

“It’s alright,” I assured him and ran a hand up his muscled arm like I’d guiltily wanted to do all week, feeling the contours and divots of it, “I don’t mind.” 

“No?” His brow twitched and I wondered if he thought I might have sex with him that night - then  _ I  _ wondered if I would. 

“No,” I shook my head and kissed him again, and this time he pressed against me on purpose, grinding his hips into mine and making me gasp. I moaned aloud when he started dotting kisses down my jaw and my neck then sucked on the side of it. 

“Mm, Johnny,” my knees tightened at his sides and I felt him put a hand over my breast and squeeze it, not too hard.

He put his head up to look at me, nose against mine, “Can you put your Dorothy costume back on?” He joked and I giggled and batted his shoulder with my hand. 

“Shut up,” I said and kissed him again, indulging myself in feeling the line of his jaw with my palm when I touched his face. 

“Almost had to run off to the bathrooms when I first saw you,” he carried on, pushing a tentative hand up my pyjama top, “you were the hottest girl there, you know? Everyone wanted you.” 

“You don’t have to sweet-talk me anymore, you know?” I teased, “I’m already making out with you.”

“Just being honest,” he smirked and kissed me again, a groan leaving his throat when he touched my bare breast under my top and ran his fingers over my nipple. His hips ground into me again and I moved against him in return. I couldn’t resist slipping my hand into his vest as well and finally touch the abs I’d been admiring, feeling the muscle quiver under my fingertips. He was just solid all over, strong and masculine like no one I’d ever had on top of me before.

We made out for a long time, breaking apart for seconds as if waiting for the other person to get bored, but that never point never came. I liked that he didn’t just try to take my bottoms off and push us in that direction, because I was enjoying just that part for a while - touching and kissing and moving.

He kept his hand in my top, feeling my breast and making my nipple hard under his thumb. I looked at him when I slipped my hand past the waist of where his costume was tied and watched his expression when I felt him through his boxers.

“Fuck,” he cursed, eyes slipping shut, he thrust against my hand, “shit…”

Johnny was very hard, and I supposed I shouldn’t have been surprised that he felt big. Even though I’d had sex before, it wasn’t something I did all the time and I could see it hurting a little, I hoped he would be content with just touching for that night. Fighting the desire to smirk, I rubbed him through his boxers, feeling the whole length of him. 

“ _ Oh my god _ ,” he groaned, clearly taken by surprise, and buried his face into the side of my neck to kiss me there, squeezing my hip hard in his hand.

It was almost ridiculous how good it felt to just lie there and make out with Johnny; I wondered why we hadn't just done it on that first day at his house. I would happily have let us both fail the test to just do that all week. 

We were both so distracted that we did not hear the cab pull up outside, the heels on the path, or the jingle of my mom’s keys when she put them in the door. No, we only knew we were not alone when the door opened and she exclaimed:

“Jesus Christ!” 

I took my hand out of his boxers quicker than anything, but he froze on top of me, both of us looking over at the door, guilty as sin and no way to hide it. Thank god we were both still dressed, but there was no denying what we had been doing. My mom stood there for a moment, shocked, her friend Linda standing right behind her. I looked at Johnny and saw him looking dumbfounded, lips kissed pink. I actually had to grab his wrist to get his hand off my tits and out of my top. 

“Mom, you said you were going to be out!” I felt my face aflame and pushed Johnny off me. 

“We decided to stay here!” She said, and then she started laughing. “Oh my god, you are so busted.” 

“Mom!” I got up quickly from the couch and practically dragged Johnny, who was also flaming red, behind with me to my room. 

“Don’t worry Linda, that’s just the hot guy she’s  _ tutoring _ ,” she wheezed behind me like it was the most hilarious thing she’d ever seen.

“Shut up!” I yelled, pushing Johnny in my bedroom and slamming the door behind us. 

I immediately went to my bed and fell down backwards on it, pressing a pillow over my face, quite sure I had never been so embarrassed in my whole life. My body was still humming from our making out but the humiliation had definitely thrown cold water on whatever I’d been planning to do with him. 

“Shit, I thought I was about to get murdered,” Johnny sighed in relief and sat on the bed beside me, “she won't care if I stay here?”

“Please, she’ll be ecstatic that I’m finally acting like a real teenager and making out with a boy while she’s out,” I said, muffled, “that was so embarrassing.” 

“Yeah, but it could’ve been worse,” he tugged the pillow away from my face and I looked up to see him smiling, “think I managed to hide my boner, at least.”

“Jesus,” I laughed and shook my head at him, covering my hot face with my hands instead. 

Johnny stood up and untied the costume from his waist before pushing it down his legs. I realised he was getting himself comfortable for the night, and that we were actually about to sleep in the same bed. Despite what we were doing before, it was still kind of thrilling him to see him standing next to my bed in just his vest and white boxer shorts. The bruise on his ribs was going purple though, I noticed before he pulled the vest down, and I guiltily realised I had almost forgotten all about that.

“Probably good she came in,” he said and sat down on the end of the bed.

“Why’s that?” I asked, unable to resist running a finger up the line of his spine through the thin material, making him shiver. 

“‘Cause, I don’t want you to think that’s all I’m after from you,” he said and lay down next to me, propped up on his elbow, “I really like you… I wanna do this right.” 

Johnny brushed some hair out of my face and I felt my heart racing again for a different reason than it had been before.

“Alright,” I said, and lay my hand over his where it rested on my cheek, “that could work for me… I really like you, too.” Sincerity like that came kind of hard to me sometimes, but I wasn’t about to not say it back to save my own coolness. Telling him I really liked him seemed like a massive understatement. I could feel myself quickly hurtling towards infatuated.

“I’ll make sure it works,” he leaned down and kissed me gently, “you're stuck with me now."  


I snorted and felt the back of his hair again, now that I could. 

"Do I get free tutoring from you, now?” He asked, hovering above my lips.

I rolled my eyes at his smirk and pushed him away, “Not that you ever needed it anyway, liar.” 

“I did, the first time,” he looked thoroughly amused, “sorry I’m not as stupid as I look.” 

“As if that would even be possible.” 

Johnny leaned down to kiss me again, but I heard a little shuffling noise from my door and we never got there. We sat up and looked over, and saw a piece of paper slid under reading _ ‘Be Safe!’ _ along with a smiley face and a wrapped condom laying on top. I looked at Johnny for a second, horrified, before he burst out laughing as if he'd never seen anything funnier than the look on my face. I fell onto my back and pulled my pillow over my face again, refusing to let him pull it away that time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly cannot thank you guys enough for all the lovely comments I've been getting on this fic. You really don't have to take the time to do that but you do anyway and it makes me so happy. Hope you liked this one! Can't wait to see what you all think xx


	6. 1st November 1984

Something new I learned about Johnny that Saturday night was that he had no trouble falling asleep despite being in a strange bed and having me right beside him. No, he seemed as comfortable as he would in his own room, stretching his tall body out and taking up the majority of the space. I, however, did not have as good a night. Not only was it extremely weird to have a boy in my bed,  _ this boy  _ in particular, but he also felt like a furnace, and I found myself awake all night trying to get comfortable as he softly snored and barely moved.

I must’ve fallen asleep for at least a couple of hours because at one point I closed my eyes in the dark and opened them in the light. Johnny was still blissfully asleep, my covers up to his waist and one arm stretched across the pillow I was trying to lay my head on. I might have enjoyed how nice he looked in the morning light, face completely soft with sleep and strong chest rising and falling, but I was mostly just tired and close to pinching him awake so I wasn’t the only one up. At least I had found one antidote to going all daffy at the sight of him.

Carefully, I climbed over him, sick of tossing and turning, and looked at my alarm clock. 7am on a Sunday, god. 

Exhausted from lack of sleep, I went into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee, bleary-eyed, then went to pee and brush my teeth while it was brewing.

The night before had been crazy, really, it was only looking at it in the light of day that I realised it. Sharon would still be thinking I was home alone and upset at being ditched for a fight. I wasn’t sure how I was going to tell her that I’d actually ended up making out with him and feeling his dick on my couch after he’d gotten himself beaten up. Not a teen movie first kiss, really. 

That sip of coffee was delightful and I stood in my kitchen for a moment while I enjoyed it, glancing at the couch. Humiliating as it had been to get caught, his face had been kind of funny, I didn’t know he could go so red. 

“Coffee, thank god,” my mom came in from her bedroom looking a little worse for wear, dress still on with her robe over the top, makeup smudged, dark hair a mess of super-held curls. 

“Good night?” I asked as if I didn’t know.

“Uh-huh, Linda’s still passed out on the floor, hope she’s alive…” She poured out a mug, “think I should be asking you that question though.” She looked at me sheepishly. 

“It was kind of a shitshow, actually, but it was alright by the end,” I said, pointedly ignoring her look, “thank you for the gift under my door, by the way, not humiliating at all.” 

She laughed a little bit until she saw that I was not amused, “Okay, I can see why that might embarrass you… My bad. I just want you to be safe, alright?”

“I’m not stupid, mom,” I said and took a deep drink, leaning on the counter, “you know if Johnny and I were going to… You know I  _ would _ be careful, don’t you?” 

“I know,” she sighed and touched my arm, “you’re a lot smarter than me.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” I said and rubbed my eyes, hoping the sleep deprivation wasn’t making me nasty without realising.

“No, I know you didn’t, it’s just true and I’m glad you are,” she said; I didn’t think I’d ever managed to get so much conversation out of her hungover, “he - he’s nice to you, right?”

I frowned a little bit, confused as to why she was asking that, “Of course he is.”

“Good,” she let out a breath, “you know I’ve been out with some not so nice guys. I just have to ask.”

It was strange, even vaguely uncomfortable to hear her actually be so maternal; I didn’t know how to react. I wondered if she was still a little drunk and it was making her emotional. But there was some sadness around her eyes and I knew that wherever it was coming from it was because she cared.

“He’s nice to me, mom,” I assured her and rubbed her shoulder, “I mean, he’s kind of an idiot sometimes, but he’s nice to me.”

She chuckled a bit and shook her head, taking a sip.

“That’s alright then,” she said, “I know you won’t take any shit, anyway.”

I smiled and felt a little emotional for her to recognise me like that, like she had been paying attention more than I thought. 

My bedroom door opened and Johnny came into the room, still only in his underwear but not seeming a bit bashful. He stretched his arms behind his back in a big yawn and half squinted at me. I bit the inside of my mouth and tried not to ogle too much; his arms were ridiculous, unfair, really. 

“Where’s the bathroom?” He asked, looking half asleep.

“End of the hall,” I said and he gave me a tired thumbs up and turned away, “there are only four rooms in this whole house, by the way, it’s the one with the toilet.” 

My mom batted my arm with a small chuckle for making fun of him. 

“Sweetie...” My mom started, leaning on the counter beside me. I recognised her tone.

“I can’t tell you how much I  _ don’t _ want to hear about how hot you think he is,” I said before she could say anything and poured myself another cup.

“Please, give me some credit, he’s a baby,” she said, unconvincingly. 

“Mm-hmm,” I said and poured her another cup too, handing it to her to give to her friend. 

“I will say he’s very pretty…” She couldn’t resist saying on the way back to her room. 

I was putting some bread in the toaster when Johnny reappeared in the kitchen looking a little more awake. He immediately wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and planted a kiss on the side of my neck. I smiled to myself; it felt nice. 

“Where’s your mom?” He asked, resting his chin on the crook of my shoulder and watching me make us breakfast. 

“Probably back to sleep for about five hours,” I said, enjoying the feeling of his large hand running over my stomach. 

“Perfect,” he started peppering kisses along the line of my neck, making me sigh and lean my head to the side when his lips ran over my jaw and the shell of my ear. I squealed and smacked his forearm when he nibbled my earlobe and I heard him chuckle, letting me go with a last peck on the cheek.

A week ago, I would never have believed that was what my first Sunday of November would look like, but it already felt very easy and normal. I wondered if it did for him, too. 

“So, what are we doing today?” He asked, munching on toast on my couch.

“Well, I’m assuming you’re going to put on some clothes at some point.” 

“Nah, I don’t really think you’d like that,” he smirked and I rolled my eyes at him, “okay, so I gotta go home and get some clothes, you could wait in the car for me, then we go do something.” 

I fought off the grin that threatened to give me away as being totally enamoured with him. He just  _ assumed _ we would hang out all day, as if we did it all the time.

“Such as?”

“I dunno, we could go to the beach, maybe? Or the arcade…”

“We could go see The Terminator?” I suggested.

“Yeah, you like stuff like that?” He smiled a bit.

“I like movies,” I shrugged; there was a lot we had to learn about each other, that alone was kind of exciting, “I haven’t seen that one yet, though.” 

“You’re not gonna be scared?” He nudged my arm with his.

“Of the fake guns and the fake blood? No, I think I’ll be fine,” I put the last of the toast in my mouth and washed it down with some coffee, “I’ll get the paper and look up showtimes.”

“Cool,” he put on the TV while he waited for me to come back and switched the morning cartoons on, “you know what would make it even better?”

I found the paper under a pile on the kitchen counter, “What?”

“If we,” he lowered his voice to a whisper, leaning back over the couch, “smoked that  _ stuff _ you gave me last night first.”

“Pretty sure Daniel LaRusso wrecked that plan,” I said and sat back down beside him, close enough that I could feel his body heat, “I bet Sharon would spot me some more though.”

“Sharon?” He asked disbelievingly. 

“Yeah,” I laughed a bit and looked at him, “I keep forgetting you don’t know us very well.” 

“Well I’m learning new things all the time,” he put his arm over my shoulder and looked over the classifieds as well, “like that you’re a rebel pothead with a temper.” 

I snorted, “I’m not a pothead, we only do it  _ sometimes _ .”

“I’m not complaining, it’s hot that you’re all smart and sweet on the outside and naughty on the inside,” he kissed my cheek again. He was very touchy, now he could be.

“You’re cheesy,” I said, not complaining about it. 

“You bring it outta me,” he said and put his hand on my face to turn my head and kiss me properly. His thumb stroking along my jawline made me tingle, and I was glad to have an excuse to put my hand on his chest and feel the muscle move under my palm.

“Oh shit,” he suddenly said quietly, pulling back, eyes shut, “I can’t go to the movies.” 

“Why?” I asked, disappointed.

“I’ve got Cobra Kai at 10,” he sounded as disappointed as I was, “shit, I’ve never forgot about karate…” 

I breathed a small chuckle, “Well at least I know I’m not boring you.” 

“Distracting me…” he kissed me again, a bit deeper that time, before pulling back, “sorry.”

“It’s alright,” I said, watching him twirl some of my red hair around his fingers, “we can do something after if you want.” 

“Yeah? You don’t mind waiting?”

“I can meet you after class, there’s a showing at 2.”

“Perfect,” he kissed me one last time before getting up, “I should get home and get my stuff.”

“You can’t do karate in your skeleton costume?” I teased.

“Uh, no, that would not go well for me,” I followed him into the bedroom while he got his stuff together.

“What are you gonna tell your mom and Sid about the eye?” I asked tentatively, gesturing to the nasty purple bruise around it. 

“No point telling them anything, they’ll know I got in a fight,” he found the costume on the floor, “it was the blood that would’ve made my mom freak out.” 

“Are you going to get in trouble for fighting?” I asked, thinking of how quick to anger Sid had been the other day. Johnny didn’t respond, but I saw him swallow and his jaw tick.

“Probably,” he said, pulling the suit on, “last time though, right? I’m not doing that stuff anymore.”

It was near impossible not to smile when he was, even if he was trying to suck up to me.

“Right,” I said and watched him put on his shoes.

Johnny kissed me on his way out and I watched him drive off, finding myself standing at the door for a while after his car was out of sight, feeling a little dreamy. 

When I was back in my bedroom, I fell face-first on the bed and squealed girlishly into my pillow, hit by the whirlwind of the past 24 hours. It smelled like him, where he had been lying, and I realised that I actually missed him, even though I could probably still hear his car if I went outside and listened hard enough. 

It was good that the phone started ringing when it did because I was at risk of falling asleep and completely dreaming through the little movie date we had planned. 

When I dragged myself into the hallway and answered it, it was Sharon on the other end.

“Are you alright?” She asked. “I’m so sorry about last night, I felt so bad letting you walk home but you left so fast-”

“No, I really wanted you to stay,” I said, “and uh - I kind of have some stuff to tell you.” 

* * *

Sharon and I walked arm in arm down the street, waiting for 1pm to come around when I would meet Johnny at the studio. She had been a never-ending fountain of questions since we met up, but I didn’t mind, I kind of felt like I needed to talk about it to believe it was even real. It was still warm enough that we were fine in just our sweater’s and jeans, but there was a slight chill in the air as the weather started to turn to feel like Fall. California never really got  _ cold _ , but we had our cooler days. 

“Was it big?” She asked, grinning, 

“Jesus, Sharon,” I scoffed, kind of wishing I hadn’t mentioned that part. 

“Come on, tell me,” she shook my arm. 

“You sound like we’re 15, I know you’ve touched a dick before.”

“Yeah but this is  _ Johnny Lawerence’s _ dick, it’s a whole different thing,” she said, “you’ve touched the dick that every senior girl as dreamed of touching.”

I laughed and bumped into her, moving us over to the side of the street to look over the books in the window of the store. I could see her waiting for an answer, but I busied myself looking over the covers with an interested frown like I hadn’t heard her.

“It was big,” I said finally and she broke into giggles.

“I knew it!” She took my arm again and we kept walking, “God, this is so weird, you hated him a week ago.”

“I didn’t  _ hate _ him,” I defended, thinking about it, “I just didn’t exactly like him.”

“And now you’re in  _ love _ ,” she teased.

“Cool it,” I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help but smile, “it’s literally been a day.”

We walked around for a while, killing time, and I asked her if she wanted to come to see the karate studio with me, maybe peek in the window.

“Uh, no, I have somewhere to be, actually,” she said, and her sheepish tone caught my attention. Sundays were generally one of her only days without some kind of advanced class or music lesson.

“Where?” I asked, frowning in confusion and interest at her sudden caginess.

“I have piano class,” she shrugged a shoulder, not looking at me. I abruptly stopped walking and crossed my arms in the middle of the street. She turned to face me, “what?”

“You’re lying!” I said, disbelieving, almost wanting to laugh at how obvious it was, “you never lie to me.”

“I am not,” she said and continued walking. I ran around her, not letting her off that easily when I stopped in front of her, hands on her shoulders.

“Tell me what you’re doing right now or I’ll fall on the floor like a kid and embarrass you,” I said, and she snorted a bit and shook her head, a little colour on her cheeks, “... oh shit, a boy!?” 

Sharon hung her head and covered her face with her hands, “Why are you psychic?”

“Why were you not going to tell me you had plans with a boy?” I countered, incredulous.

“I know, I’m sorry, I just - it’s Jesse, alright? And it’s not even technically a date or anything, but it might be, I’m not sure,” we continued walking together, “and I know he liked you and you thought you might like him, so…”

“Oh my god, you thought I’d be mad about that?” I put my arm around her waist, “I never liked him, Sharon, and he’s cute, you  _ should _ go out with him.”

“Yeah?” She looked at me.

“Of course, don’t be crazy,” I said, “you’re my best friend, dummy, when am I ever mad at you about anything?”

“True,” she draped an arm over my shoulder, “we’re going to Golf ‘n’ Stuff, then out to eat. That sounds like a date, right?”

“That definitely sounds like a date,” I assured her with a smile, and she looked pleased with that, adjusting her glasses on her nose, “look at us, going on dates like real girls.”

“Finally,” she said and checked her watch, “better go, actually, have fun spying.” The Cobra Kai studio was just across the street from us, impossible to miss, of course, with its big colourful sign and the huge snake on the front. 

“Have fun with Jesse,” I bumped her hip and we parted ways. Sharon and Jesse, that was interesting. I half expected her to say it was Bobby, I’d definitely gotten the vibe that he was interested in her. 

It was almost 1pm, he would be done soon, but I was glad I had a moment to snoop a little. For all I’d heard about it and seen his trophies, I’d never actually seen him  _ doing _ karate before. I was quiet when I went in the front door and made a face at the large cardboard cut out of the intimidating-looking teacher on the way in. I passed all their group trophies and followed the sound of shouts. 

It was a relief that I wasn’t the only one there just to watch, there were a couple of guys who looked our age standing or sitting on the sidelines in their plain clothes, clearly hoping to join. Apparently, I had arrived at the right time, because most of the class were off to one side in their white outfits - robes? I wasn’t sure what they were called but that didn’t sound right - and they were watching a practice match.

Johnny stood out most of the time, especially that day with the large purple shiner he was sporting, but it was only him and one other person in the middle of the mats. I sat down on the floor between two boys slowly, not wanting to catch his eye and distract him. 

He was sweating already and stony-faced, too focussed to see me. When they started, I found that I couldn’t take my eyes off them. I think I had expected it to all look more amateurish, or that they wouldn’t really connect that hard, but they were a flurry of movement, kicks and punches and dodges, and when Johnny kicked the boy he was sparring with in the ribs I actually winced myself.

“2 points to Lawrence. Again!” The teacher’s voice made me jump a little, harsh and cutting. He stood in the middle of the boys in his black outfit, arms crossed, big tattoo on his bicep. Kreese, that was his name. 

They went at each other again, one of the boy’s kicks connected with Johnny’s ribs that time and worry shot through me that it was where he was already bruised. He didn’t seem to react to it at all, though, blocking the next hit, then landing two hits in quick succession.

Honestly, it was kind of amazing how quickly he could move while also hitting so hard. I found myself not even looking at the other people in the room, eyes wide and fixed on him. 

“Are you even trying, Midwood?” Kreese barked at the kid who was clearly losing. I watched him get up to his feet, wincing in pain but hiding it. “Fight!”

It was kind of brutal, I was surprised the match was still going. 

When they started again, he immediately shot out his foot and swept Johnny’s legs from under him, sending him crashing onto his back with a loud slapping noise. I brought my fingers to my lips, forcing myself not to audibly gasp. My instinct was to go to him and make sure he was alright, but I held back, of course.

Johnny put his hands over his head and used them to spring up to his feet in one unbelievable fluid motion, and even the boy beside me made a noise of being impressed. A breath left me in a shudder and I couldn’t help smiling a bit. I’d known he was strong but  _ god _ .

He fought hard for the rest of the match and I just sat and watched in actual awe of the whole thing. It ended when he landed a punch on his opponent that had his lip bleeding and the teacher finally called it. 

“Nice, Johnny,” the class complimented him and clapped him on the back when he shook his opponent’s hand and rejoined the group, out of breath and hair wet with sweat. Bobby obviously noticed me because he said something to Johnny and he finally turned around and saw me there.

I raised a hand in greeting with a little smile, not caring to be embarrassed that I was as amazed by him as everyone else in the room. Panting, the corner of his mouth raised a bit at me, but he turned serious when the teacher went to talk to him.

Feeling a little breathless myself, I filed out with the rest and waited outside for him, keen not to get him in any kind of trouble, but desperate to see him. 

When he came out with the rest, his hair was damp from the shower and he had changed into his jeans and red jacket. His friends said their goodbye’s, slapping him on the back and sending me a couple of knowing looks on their way by. I wondered what exactly they knew about me. 

“I didn’t know you were in there,” he said when he got to me, “little embarrassed I let that kid land a hit or two.”

“Nothing to be embarrassed about, Johnny,” I told him and touched his forearm where his sleeve was rolled up, realising just how exciting it had been to watch him. He was so  _ capable,  _ so good at it that I actually felt even more attracted to him than I had before.

“I have to show you something,” I said, giddy. 

Not really thinking with my brain, I took his hand and led him just around the corner until we were in the mouth of an alley. He only had a second to look confused before I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and pulled him down for a deep kiss. Johnny caught on quickly and held my hips, backing me against the wall and teasing his tongue over my bottom lip.

“What’s got you all worked up?” He smirked like he didn’t know, his hands rubbing up and down my sides.

“Nothing, just-” I wet my swollen lips, breath shaky, “you’re really strong, huh?” 

I could see how big his head was getting at how clearly excited I was. He planted his hands under my butt and lifted me up, making me giggle and put my hands on his shoulders, not that I thought he would drop me, it barely seemed to take any effort at all.

“Sorta,” he cocked his head and smiled when he kissed me again. I ran a hand through his still drying-off hair and enjoyed feeling held and weightless for a moment, thinking how disciplined and agile he was in there. He made a little noise against my mouth when I tightened my legs around him and pulled him right against me.

“We’re gonna miss our movie,” I said, pulling back but not wanting to get off him yet.

“Yep,” he pecked behind my ear and nipped at the side of my neck and I shivered and breathed a little laugh. He was very neck-fixated, apparently. 

“Mr Lawrence,” the hard voice of his teacher had his mouth off me quickly, and he set me down to my feet and put a little distance between us. 

“Yes, Sensei?” He said, standing a bit straighter, swallowing deeply. Kreese didn’t look any less intimidating in his street clothes, looking at us both sternly from the street. In my peripheral, I could see Johnny straighten up his back. 

“Do that somewhere other than the side of my dojo,” he took some sunglasses from his pocket and put them on.

“Sorry, Sensei,” he nodded and I did not dare say a word, adjusting my jeans and feeling thoroughly scolded.

When he walked away, Johnny let out a breath and looked at me a little apologetically, posture relaxing, “Let’s go,” he took my hand, linking our fingers together. 

“That guy is terrifying,” I said quietly with a nervous chuckle as if he could hear from all the way down the street. 

“I guess,” Johnny said with a little smile, “part of the job.”

“You looked a little scared too,” I pointed out.

“Did not,” he scoffed.

Personally, I didn’t have a steely enough of a spine to be able to handle being yelled at by that guy for a few hours a week. The ‘no mercy’ part started to make sense, though, he didn’t strike me as the kind of person to back off a fight either.

The movie theatre was part of the big mall in town and we walked through it hand-in-hand, ducking in and out of stores for a while. I was glad we didn’t see anyone from school. Not that there was anything embarrassing about holding hands with him in the least, I just didn’t much like the idea of walking into school the next day and having everyone already know about us. Whatever we were.

We stood in the record store, flipping through the vinyl. I was only window shopping, I just about had enough money in my pocket for my movie ticket and I’d had to take that from my already dwindling savings jar. My mom had already 'borrowed' $20 of it for groceries. Glancing up at Johnny, I saw him standing by one of the racks with the sampling headphones on, standing in profile to me. I liked that he was as into music as I was, even if we disagreed on the merits of Whitesnake. 

I held up the album I had been eyeing for weeks, Purple Rain by Prince, and flipped it over to look longingly over the tracklist, again.

“You gettin’ it?” Johnny had come up to my side, looking over my shoulder. 

“Uh, no,” I slotted it back where it had been, thinking of the crumpled up notes in my pocket, “maybe next time.” 

“Why not? It’s great,” he picked it back up again, “I mean, he dresses kinda weird but the music’s cool.”

I snorted and looked it over; I did really want it.

“I’m good for today,” I shrugged, really not wanting to tell him I just couldn’t afford it. Johnny was more observant than you'd think, though, and I could tell from the way he looked at me that it clicked. I pointedly avoided his eye and pretended to look at something else.

“Shall we go?” I asked, keeping my tone light. 

“Yeah, in a second,” he slung an arm over my shoulder and guided us towards the counter, album in hand.

“Johnny, you don’t-”

“What? This is for me,” I could see him trying not to smile as he laid it in front of the cashier with big glasses and a Genesis t-shirt.

“You already have it,” I said, watching him pay the guy, who slotted it into a paper bag. Johnny ignored me and picked it up, leaving the store with me, “hello?”

“Ah, shit, you’re right,” he said, still putting on a show, “you might as well have it then, huh?” 

Reluctantly, fighting off a smile, I took it from his hands and peeked inside the bag; I couldn’t deny how happy I was to finally own it. 

“Thank you,” I said and pulled him down so I could kiss his cheek, “you didn’t have to.”

“I know,” he shrugged and put his arm around me again as we continued to walk, “I want you to listen to it so I can talk to you about it.”

I smiled to myself and tucked the bag under my arm, walking around with him for a little longer. We shared a big pretzel, sitting by the fountain and tearing pieces off. 

“How come you don’t wear your headband anymore?” I asked when I remembered I hadn’t felt it when I ran my fingers through his hair and he hadn’t had it on in the dojo.

Johnny shrugged, “Lost it,” he put a big piece in his mouth. 

“Well I think you should get a new one, it’s your signature,” I said, making him snort, “come on, we’ve got some more time to kill.” 

It took us looking around a few stores, but I eventually found the perfect thing in a place that sold girl’s accessories, a yellow hair ribbon made of stretchy jersey material like his black one had been. I showed it to him while he looked embarrassed to be in the store. I wished I could get a picture of him picking up a sparkly scrunchie and stretching it out with a look like he didn’t understand what it was. 

“Goes with the Cobra Kai theme, right?” I held it up next to the snake symbol on his jacket, finding the colour a pretty perfect match.

He smiled and took it, running his fingers over it, “Yeah, this works.”

We took it to the counter and he bought it, acting like it was for me, which I went along with for the sake of his ego. On the way out, he held it up to me.

“You gonna kiss it to give me good luck?” He asked, mouth quirking. 

“Of course,” I rolled my eyes and took it from him, stretching it out and pressing a kiss in the middle of the fabric, “bend down for me.”

Johnny did as he was told and bowed his back so I could wrap the thing around his head and tie it, fluffing his hair around it as he liked. When he stood back up straight, he adjusted it and I looked over him, again struck by how handsome he was. Handsome and wearing my good luck headband. 

“Good?” He flicked his hair a bit. 

“Dreamy,” I said like I was teasing, even though it happened to be completely true. 

A few more things I learned about Johnny that day, on top of him being annoying to share a bed with: he liked Red Vines instead of popcorn at the movies; he had the habit of snorting at inappropriate points during violent scenes; he liked to sit at the very back to put his feet up on the empty seat in front and he could only get through about half an hour before turning to me to make out. 

I also learned that he liked to hold hands or have an arm over my shoulder while we walked, and he wouldn’t pull away from my house until he saw the door close behind me. About myself, I learned that I was way more susceptible to blushing than I thought and that when I got back into the house after a full day with Johnny Lawrence it would take me approximately two hours to stop smiling. 

“What’s got you so happy?” My mom asked when she got in from work, untying her apron. 

“Nothing,” I shrugged, fixing my face and going back to stirring the curry I was making us for dinner. 

“Okay…” She slid off her shoes and gestured to the record player, “and who’s this?” 

I smiled to myself, remembering the day all over again, “It’s Prince, I got it today.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the very kind comments as usual. I love you <3


	7. A Shitty Monday

Johnny and I ended up having such a good time that Sunday that we never actually clarified how we were going to act at school the next day. Were we going to keep it quiet and act like we always did? Would he tell his friends? I may have only really had one person to tell, but I’d blabbed pretty much immediately. A part of my mind that I didn’t like, because I mostly liked to think I was pretty sure in myself, wondered if he might prefer people didn’t know. Maybe I wasn’t popular enough or hot in the right kind of ways to be seen with him. That insecure train of thought got squashed pretty quickly when I started to cross the courtyard that morning after parting ways with Sharon and he came up beside me and slung an arm over my shoulders, kissing temple. Not being secretive, then.

“I was thinkin’... How do you think that German guy got so ripped for that movie? Guy must be on steroids or protein shakes or somethin’.”

I chuckled that we were starting the day with that conversation, “I think he’s Austrian, and I’m guessing he has a trainer.” 

“I gotta get a trainer,” he said, walking me to my locker. It was impossible to ignore that people were definitely looking at us and I was tempted to look back and demand they tell me what was so interesting. It made me way more conscious of myself than I usually was at school; I suddenly cared about what my hair was doing and what my clothes looked like now people were actually aware of my existence.

“Of course, because you’re so skinny,” I said, opening my locker and finding what I needed, “practically wasting away.” 

When he leaned beside me I noticed that he had the yellow headband on that I had kissed for luck the day before. It looked good on him with his blue t-shirt, tucked in his jeans, and I caught myself admiring him for a second before getting my books out. 

“You look great today,” he said quietly and rested a hand on my back. I closed my locker and faced him, books pressed to my chest, “I like you in shorts.”

“Why’s that?” I asked, knowing we were playing a dangerous game doing that at school.

“‘Cause they show what a great ass you’ve got,” he smirked and anticipated me smacking him in the chest, tensing against it. 

“Someone’s going to hear you,” I warned like the attention wasn’t going to my head and making me pleasantly dizzy. 

“And?” Definitely making no secret about us, Johnny leaned down and kissed me softly on the lips, only the bell breaking us apart, “let’s skip.” He said and ran his fingers up and down my arm.

“Go to class,” I ordered, amused and warm faced, and he gave me one last look before reluctantly moving away from me and heading across the courtyard. It was a good job he did, I wouldn’t have taken a lot of convincing to find an empty classroom and hide under the desks. 

I found myself actually chewing the inside of my mouth against grinning all the way to class, and not even Physics could put me in a bad mood. It was still a struggle, sure, but at least I had something nice to think about. History was after that, and I found myself daydreaming in that too, specifically about making out in the alley the day before, having him pick me up like that... I didn’t realise I was distractedly chewing the end of my pen until the teacher said my name and I had to stupidly answer:

“Huh?” 

“Pair up with Ali for class discussion, please,” she repeated, thankfully a nice enough teacher not to call me out for my lack of attention. I glanced at Ali. We technically sat next to each other in that class, but there was a bit of distance between us that particular day; I don't think either of us had really realised we had shuffled our chairs apart. Still, I fixed my face into one that didn’t seem so annoyed at the memory of her tripping Johnny and turned in my chair to face her.

“So, the New Deal, huh?” I said awkwardly, looking over my notes.

“I think she just makes us do class discussion so she can go smoke a cigarette,” Ali said, smiling a little bit. She wasn’t brushing me off, so I wouldn’t brush her off either.

“You’re right,” I said and put my pen down. There really was no point pretending to talk about history when no one else was, all already chatting about plans for the weekend and gossip. I wouldn’t normally mind, but she and I really did not have that kind of stuff to talk about and small talk was coming a lot more difficult than it had between us in the past. 

“I heard a rumour you and Johnny are dating now,” she said, and I couldn’t really place her tone. I was surprised that she brought him up at all, I would’ve been fine just sitting there in awkward silence for the rest of the class.

“Uh, yeah, I guess,” I said. Really, it had been one date and a lot of making out, “information really spreads around here.” 

“Well, he kissed you in the courtyard, so yeah, people were talking,” she didn’t look at me, doodling on her paper, and I realised her tone was not friendly. 

“Is there a problem?” I asked, willing myself not to get annoyed already.

Ali looked at me and seemed to consider what she was going to say for a moment, keeping her voice low when she spoke.

“Have you seen Daniel?” She asked, “What Johnny and his buddies did to him?” 

Her accusatory tone made me immediately defensive, but I tried to be fair. She wasn’t wrong to be annoyed and she wasn’t really wrong to be a little judgemental of me. I would be judgemental of myself if I was looking on from the outside. 

“You’ve seen Johnny, he got it back,” I said. It was a kind of weak defence, I knew, but Ali didn’t know all that had been said about it between Johnny and me and it wasn’t her business to know.

“Johnny’s twice his size,” she said, sounding pissed off herself, “and you’re fine with that?”

I clenched my jaw and glanced around to make sure no one could hear us before leaning forward a bit more, the childish urge to throw her book across the room occurring to me. As if she knew me well enough to go at me like that. 

“Was he a perfect angel when you dated him?” I snapped, “weren’t you right there in his car when him and his friends were acting like assholes?”

“Yeah, and I dumped him for that,” she said back.

“Oh, you think I don’t know you dumped him because he forgot your birthday?” I scoffed a bit, “nice try Miss Holier Than Thou Nineteen-Eighty-Fuckin’-Four.” 

Her shock at how I was talking to her was satisfying, even if I felt myself getting meaner than I meant to. 

“So you’re fine with what he did to Daniel?”

“No, of course not, and you don't know what I've said to him about it,” I said and she snorted at that; her laugh made me wonder how long I would get detention for if we got into an actual physical fight in the classroom. 

“Hmm, I bet he really listens to you,” she said dismissively. I could have left it there, I really could have, but anger was overwhelming rationality and I just wanted the fight to keep going and not to let her have the last word. 

"Why did you even date him?" I asked, incredulously.

"What?"

"Why did you even date him?" I repeated. "You're not stupid, you knew what he was like - why did you even go out with him if you don't like him and you don't think he can change?"

"I-" Ali struggled for anything to say and I felt a bitter shot of triumph. I knew why she dated him; she was the hot cheerleader, he was the hot athlete and she cared about that image. She could pretend that she didn’t all she wanted. 

"Just leave me alone, okay? You're not helping me, you're just pissing me off," I turned back to my book, not reading the words.

“Fine,” she snapped.

“Great,” I responded, and we sat not looking at each other for the rest of the class, scowling. 

The day ended with English class and I spotted what was different as soon as I stepped in the classroom. Desks were in blocks of two, and the guy I usually sat next to was gone, replaced with Johnny, leaning back in his seat and looking pleased with himself. Forgetting the argument with Ali for a moment, I bit back my smile and went to my window-side seat, having to climb over his legs to get there. He did not make much of an effort to help me, quite happy to have me step between his legs and clamber over his thigh. 

“Politely asked your former desk buddy to move his ass,” he said, scooting his chair back in and close to mine when I sat. 

“Politely, huh?” I said sceptically. It seemed like behaviour I shouldn’t encourage, but I liked it really. Spending the whole weekend together had made me miss him that day, and I enjoyed the warmth of his leg against mine and the smell of his cologne. Defending him to Ali had just made me want to see him even more. When he walked in, Mr Wilson noticed us sitting together but didn’t say anything, there wasn’t actually a strict seating plan in that class. 

It was difficult not to be distracted when the teaching actually started and Mr Wilson went into a lecture on preparing for finals; I tried to make my notes like normal and listen to him, but it was hard not to think about what we’d done together over the weekend when he was right there. I wondered if he was thinking the same when about half an hour in he put his hand on my bare knee under the desk and rubbed little circles there. 

I let him do it for a while, glancing at the smirk on the corner of his mouth until my face was getting too warm and I was worried someone would see me shiver at the feeling. I crossed my legs so his hand slipped off and gave him a tiny shake of the head when he glanced at me. 

“You feeling alright?” he whispered, subtly leaning close to me, “you got a fever?”

I narrowed my eyes at him and mouthed ‘fuck you,’ before looking only at my notebook for the rest of the class, ignoring his grin. 

At the end of the hour, Mr Wilson held up the graded stack of tests and told us to collect them as we left. I’d almost totally forgotten that part by then, even though it was how the whole thing had started. 

Johnny stayed close behind me after we packed up our things to leave. I got my paper back before him, pleased with the ‘A+’ written in red marker on the front even though I kind of expected it. That was why I was going to do literature at college, it had always come easy to me. I waited by the door while Johnny got his test back, confused when I saw Mr Wilson not handing it over. 

He glanced at me, clearly, he was having to stay behind. 

“I’ll wait,” I said quietly and left to stand outside instead, confused as to what the problem could be. A few minutes passed of me flipping through my own test before the door opened again and Mr Wilson called me inside with a tone that made me feel like I was in trouble.

Johnny was sitting in the chair across from his desk, arms crossed, not looking happy. 

“Mr Lawrence got an A on his test, for the first time this year,” he said to me, which seemed extremely inappropriate. 

“Great,” I said, pleased for him but knowing that wasn’t the end of it as I sat in the chair beside him.

“And he says that you tutored him for a full week, is that true?” He looked over his wire-framed glasses with a sceptical look on his face.

“Yes, every day, pretty much,” I said quickly. 

“And you’re not trying to cover for him cheating?” He asked.

For the second time that day, anger flared up the back of my neck, I couldn't believe that he was asking me that, I didn’t even understand how you  _ could _ cheat on an English test. Knowing the questions wouldn’t mean he could write good answers. 

“Of course not, I would never do that,” I shook my head. 

Mr Wilson looked at me for a long time, as if evaluating me. It wasn’t attention I was used to and I didn’t like it, “I’m inclined to believe you, Miss Parker, but only because I have no reason not to.”

The unfairness of it burned me, I wanted to demand why he would assume Johnny couldn’t get the score for real, why he had to hear it from me.

“Mr Lawrence, you’re excused, I need to speak with Miss Parker for a moment,” he said, not looking at him as he handed him his test. No apology, of course.

Johnny got up, I watched his annoyed expression as he left the room, shoving the test into his back pocket. 

Mr Wilson took off his glasses and looked at me, seeming to soften a bit, but my ears were still burning with annoyance,  “This boy isn’t pressuring you to cover for him, is he?”

“No, I swear,” I said, hating having to defend us both like that, “Johnny studied really hard, he even paid me to tutor him, honestly. He’s - we’re friends, he wouldn’t make me do something that would get me in trouble.”

“Alright,” he conceded, “and if I might give you some personal advice, Jenna?” The switch to my first name was odd, “Be careful around that type of boy. It’s easy for a young woman like yourself to become distracted, lead astray by people like Mr Lawrence.” 

My nostrils flared and I swallowed deeply. I wasn’t sure if it was the patronisation or the treating me like I was a blushing virgin angel that got to me the most. It was as if he thought I was just some daffy idiot that would do anything a pretty boy told me to do. I wanted to yell at him and swipe everything off his desk, tell him never to speak to me like he knew me again and that he was a shitty teacher. But the year wasn’t over, I still had to go back to that class week on week, and he was still my teacher. So I bit my lip and nodded.

“Okay, sir, understood.” 

I left the classroom on the verge of tears with how mad I was and at how unfair it was that Johnny had actually done well and got no credit for it. Biting my lip like that had always been hard and I hardly ever had to do it. Adults usually trusted me, they certainly didn't accuse me of covering for someone trying to cheat. 

“You alright?” Johnny put his hand on my shoulder as we walked fast down the hall and outside, headed for my locker in the courtyard. 

“Yeah, I just wanna go home,” I said. The day had been truly shit, as if everyone was trying their best to piss me off, “are you”?

“Yeah,” he shrugged. I wasn't sure if he was but I didn't want to start crying out of frustration in front of him either, so I chewed my mouth and waited until we were somewhere private to talk. 

I put my books away and shut my locker, wanting nothing more than to get in his car and listen to a tape on the way home. It was then noticed the two girls who had cornered me in the gym changing rooms approach us, heels clicking across the courtyard and conspiratorial smiles on their faces. 

“Fuck,” I cursed under my breath, and he didn’t have time to ask me what was wrong before they were standing across from us. 

“Hey,” she said as if she knew me; a lot of people were doing that, apparently, “Hi Johnny.”

“Hey,” he smiled tightly, terrible at looking interested to talk to people when he wasn't. 

“What are you guys up to tonight?” The blonde one asked, again, like we were friends, even though I  _ still _ had no idea what they were called. I was surprised she didn’t actually have her nose in the air, sniffing for information. Why did she care what we were doing that night? Why were they looking me up and down like I was filthy wearing rags and not just an old t-shirt and some shorts? Why was the idea that Johnny would be there with his arm around me so fucking strange to them? 

"Just gonna watch a movie, probably," I managed to get out and swung my bag onto my shoulder, hoping I was also making it clear that I didn't want to talk. 

"That's all?" The brunette asked. I actually felt a little twitch in my eye at the nosiness of it all. 

That was the point in the day when my temper finally spoke for me.

“Probably gonna go and have sex in Johnny’s car, actually,” I said bitterly, “do you wanna come? Maybe bring a camera so you can show everyone all the shit you know that they don’t?”

Their shocked looks were satisfying and Johnny obviously also picked up on my irritation getting away from me.

“Alright, let’s go,” he said quietly, recovering quickly, and I didn’t have to look at him to see he was trying not to laugh when he put his arm around my shoulder and guided me away from them.

“Bitch,” one of them, I don’t know which, said. I wheeled back on her, fully prepared to swing for the first time in years. 

“ _ What did you just call me _ ?” I felt my pulse thudding in my neck like the one other time in my life I had actually been in a fight. At least I knew I could win, they were pretty skinny. Johnny didn’t let me go for her as they walked away in a hurry, scoffing over their shoulders at me. He caught me around the waist and pulled me back with ease, practically lifting me off my feet like I was a little puppy or something. 

“Okay, let’s get you home,” he pulled me towards the parking lot; it was clearly a lot funnier to him than it was to me, I could see the surprised smile on the corner of his mouth. 

I huffed, surprised there wasn’t literal steam coming out of my ears when I turned and let him take me to his car. When we got in, slamming the door, I let out a long breath and he didn’t immediately set off, lowering the roof so we had some privacy. I sat there for a moment with my arms crossed and a deep frown on my face. 

“You okay, babe?” He asked, rubbing my back. The new term of endearment helped a little bit, but it didn’t make me any less mad.

“No, I wanna hit someone,” I said, looking at him. He opened his arms with a little smile and gestured to his chest.

“Go for it, I can take it,”

“Not you,” I finally breathed a frustrated laugh, running my fingers through my hair, “you’re the last person I wanna hit. I wanna hit people on your behalf, knock that stupid teacher’s glasses off his stupid face.” 

“Is that why you went off on those girls? Mr Wilson?” 

“That wasn’t the only reason,” I said, leaning back against the car seat and enjoying how he picked up my hand to run his thumb over the back of it, “okay it was the biggest reason, but those girls have pissed me off before.” 

I did not mention the little tiff I’d had with Ali in History. It didn’t seem a particularly helpful thing to tell him. 

“Mr Wilson’s a jerkoff, I don’t care what he thinks,” he said, “I got the A ‘cause of you. That’s all that matters.”

I looked at him for a moment and let out a sigh,  “I don’t like people saying shitty things about you,” I said, calming down at the softness of his voice and the way he stroked my hand, “he pretty much said you’d be a bad influence on me.” 

“Yeah?” Johnny smirked, amused.

“Yeah,” I smiled since he was. 

“Well, maybe I am. You’ve already tried to get into a fight,” he said.

I laughed a little, “I wasn’t going to fight them… I mean, I  _ probably _ wasn’t going to fight them. And that wasn’t your influence, that was just me being crazy. Probably should've mentioned that little personality trait before.”

“I like you crazy,” he said.

“You do?” I asked sceptically, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, it’s hot,” he smirked.

“Everything’s hot to you,” I said, shaking my head. 

“When it’s you, yeah,” he said, and the air in the car changed from him comforting me to something else. I scooted turned a bit in my seat to face him, knowing I was ruining the mood but not wanting to just ignore that he might be hurt.

“Do you really not care Mr Wilson thought you cheated? Because I care and I’m not you,” I told him, "he should've been praising you for picking your grade up so much."

“I’m used to adults thinking the worst of me,” he said and glanced out of the window, “I got the A, so fuck him.”

“Right,” I said, suspecting that he did care a little and still wanting to personally fight everyone that had made him feel shitty. But I couldn't do that, all I could do was try to show him that _I_ at least didn't think the worst of him. I didn’t push the issue, I just got out of my seat and climbed into his lap so I was straddling his thighs. The car was parked facing a wall, no one would see.

“Okay…” He looked pleased with the change in conversation, resting his hands on my thighs and looking up at me with a lopsided smile, “is this ‘cause you feel sorry for me? ‘Cause if it is, that’s totally fine.” 

“This is to celebrate your A,” I said and kissed him, putting both my hands in his hair and feeling the band we had got together. Just the feeling of that had me whimpering in his mouth and grinding against his lap because I realised I liked that he wore it to school and that he kissed me by my locker and took the seat next to me in English. There was something possessively satisfying about everyone knowing he was mine, whatever that meant, even if it got me way more attention than I wanted, even if other people just didn’t get it. 

Again, I was struck by how much I liked him and the feeling was almost too intense to handle.

“I thought you were kidding,” he pulled back from me breathlessly before kissing at my neck instead. I didn’t know what he was saying for a second until I remembered what I’d said to those girls. 

“God,” I giggled, feeling his hair in my fingers, “I’m not going to have sex with you right now, so you can forget that.” 

“So I’m hearing you’ll have sex with me some other time…” He looked up at me with those ridiculously pretty eyes when he popped a button on my sweater so he could kiss the top of my chest, nose pressing into my skin.

If he expected me to protest that point, I wasn’t going to, “Of course I will,” I said, and he stopped and looked up at me, cocky tone breaking. 

“Seriously? You - you’ve thought about that?” He wet his lips and his hands ran up and down my thighs. I wondered if he knew how much I could feel him getting hard under me and I put my hand on his chest because I wanted to feel his heart hammering. Maybe this was actually something I was a little more confident than him on.

"Totally, haven’t you?” I asked, innocent as could be and running my hands up to his shoulders.

“Shit,” his breath came out a little shaky, “since about when you told me off in the library.” 

It was my heart’s turn to start hammering and his hands smoothed up my legs to cup my ass. 

“And  _ definitely _ after I saw you in a swimsuit,” the admission made me actually shiver, “like, wrist cramps…”

I fell into embarrassed laughter and pressed my face into his shoulder. He lifted up my face to kiss me again so I smiled against his mouth instead. He had a tendency to make pleasured little noises in his throat; I didn’t want to tell him in case it made him stop because it got me worked up to hear him enjoy just kissing me so much. 

We stayed like that for a while, both of us forgetting where we were until I was grinding against his lap and he was sucking on the side of my neck. 

When we broke apart for air, I felt a little tremble in my fingers, hot and excited.

“I-I’ve gotta tell you something,” he said, licking his pink lips, leaning his head back against the headrest, “it’s embarrassing.”

“Okay, tell me,” I said, running my hands over his chest gently. 

“I’ve never done it,” he said, meeting my eye finally, hands on my thighs but looking bashful, “like, I’ve done _stuff_ , but I haven’t gone all the way.”

“Really?” I asked, disbelievingly. I had always just assumed that he and Ali had, it seemed odd that he looked like he did and got so much female attention and had never got that far. 

“Yeah,” he nodded, “don’t tell anyone.”

“I wasn’t going to put it on a postcard, Johnny. It’s not a big deal, you know?” I assured him, seeing that he was genuinely embarrassed by it. 

“Have you?”

For a moment, I kind of considered lying, like it would make him feel better. But I wasn’t about to do that. 

“Yeah,” I said, biting my bottom lip, “I have.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah,” I chewed the inside of my mouth, worried he was the kind of guy that would be mad about that and not wanting to find out while straddling his lap, “is… is that a problem?”

Johnny looked out of the window and seemed to think about it for a moment. It wouldn’t be out of character for him to be mad about that, I supposed, so I braced myself for it. 

“No,” he shook his head, “no, I mean, I kinda want to beat the ass of whoever it was but I’m not pissed at  _ you _ or anything.”

I breathed a laugh through my nose, relieved. 

“Who was it?” He asked, side of his mouth quirking.

“You just said you want to beat their ass, so no,” I said. He was obviously assuming it was somebody at school, not the cute cashier from the ice cream parlour I used to work at who’d gone to college the year before. 

“C’mon…” He tried again.

“No,” I said, “it’s not important now, I never see him and I only like you.” 

I swallowed, considering the next thing I was going to say, feeling suddenly nervous. It seemed right to reassure him, though, that me having sex with this person didn't mean a whole lot. We had honestly never been more than friends and it had only been something we did for fun in the backroom. 

“I like you more than I’ve ever liked anybody,” I told him. He perked up, eyes shining happily at me. 

“Really?” His thumbs rubbed my legs. 

“Uh-huh,” I nodded. Maybe it was weird to say, way too soon, but I meant it. 

“Shit…” He smiled in a way that was somehow both smug and endearing, “glad the feeling’s mutual.” 

That time when we kissed, one of his hands wove into my hair, fingers lightly rubbing my scalp. Maybe the confession of how into one another we were drove the intensity, but I felt hot all over and could've quite happily unzipped his jeans and done what I'd just said we wouldn't. 

Johnny pulled back to breathe, “So, when  _ can _ you see us having sex?” His brow twitched.

I giggled, “Why would I ruin the mystery by telling you that?”

“‘Cause now we’ve talked about it I’m not going to be able to think about anything else,” he said, pulling me a bit closer to him. 

“Well, I want you to think about it all the time,” I ran my fingers through his hair, enjoying the way he closed his eyes at the feeling, “because you have totally wrecked  _ my _ ability to think straight since we started hanging out.” 

“Yeah?” He wet his lips, eyes still shut, and I could tell he was enjoying having his ego inflated. I wanted to make him feel good though, after the day he’d had. 

“Yeah and especially since I saw you fighting yesterday, all agile and strong,” I could tell he enjoyed my fawning by the way his grip tightened on my thighs, “you’re so fucking hot.”

He kissed me fiercely then, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me as close as he could. His tongue pushed into my mouth and I moaned into his, wanting to get as close to him as I could, climb into his clothes, melt into his skin. I moved my hips against his and felt him straining in his jeans and he made a little gasping noise at the feeling, pushing his hand up my sweater and over my stomach. 

A harsh knocking on the window had us both jumping hastily, pulling apart with a shared jump. 

Right, we were in the school parking lot. That information had become very unimportant until the principal was looking through the window, frowning disapprovingly at us over her big glasses. 

“Oh fuck,” I felt myself go beet red and climbed off him and into the passenger seat, “drive, drive, drive.”

Johnny tried to put on his most charming smile and raised an apologetic hand to her, turning the ignition and backing out as quickly as he could while I still had my hands over my face. 

“Shit,” I put my head between my knees, embarrassed beyond belief, “why does that keep happening to us?”

“Think god is getting a laugh out of leaving me with blue balls,” Johnny sighed and ran a hand through his hair. I snorted and sat up, opening the window to try and cool down a little. Johnny looked genuinely a little frustrated when he handed me his big bag of loose cassettes that he'd long since lost the cases for. I shoved anything in and groaned at the fact that it was Whitesnake; his taste and mine didn't line up all the time. 

“Not picking private enough places, maybe,” I said and unlaced my right sneaker, “parking lot at school is kind of asking to get caught.”

“Well can we get a motel room or find an empty park or somethin’?” He grumbled, shuffling uncomfortably in his seat. 

“You know, it’s how romantic you are that really does it for me,” I joked and took out the pre-roll I had wedged in my shoe, finding my lighter in my bag, “this should calm you down.”

Johnny looked over with pleasant surprise and watched me put it between my lips to light it. 

“You’re perfect, you know that?” He said when he took the lit joint from me and had a drag, “an angel from heaven.”

I laughed and took it back off him, “My mom won’t be back from work for a while, we can go to my place and finish this.” 

“And finish some other stuff, maybe?” He raised an eyebrow, trying to take it off me but finding me moving it away from his hand. He needed to concentrate on driving, he could get high when we were home. I didn’t have a lot of faith in his tolerance level. 

“Sure, I’ve got a history paper to due soon... What do you know about the New Deal?”

“Funny girl…” He mumbled, pretending to be unimpressed with my teasing, "can't believe you had this in your shoe while Wilson was interrogating us."

I snorted and blew smoke out of the window, "Shit, I didn't even think of that."

"All big-eyed and innocent, 'no sir, I would never cheat,'" he imitated and I smacked his arm.

"Shut up."

We were at my place soon enough and the shittiness of the day slipped away more and more as we lay on my bed for a while with the window open, passing the joint back and forth and listening to Physical Graffiti because Led Zeppelin was a band we could actually agree on. He lounged with his back against my headboard and I lay between his legs, back leaning on his front and reading the brochure for Pomona College, one of my backups for Berkeley. The campus was pretty and their liberal arts programme seemed pretty good. 

“Is your mom not gonna care that it reeks of pot in here?” He asked, messing with my hair. 

“Not really,” I said, “as long as I’m not stoned all the time or doing crack or something she basically doesn’t care.” 

Johnny snorted, “Shit, wish I had your mom,”

“No, you don’t,” I sighed, “your mom’s great.” 

“You don’t like yours?”

“It’s not that… I guess I’d like her more if she was just my friend or something, but she’s not, she’s supposed to be my mom. Like, she never went to a parent-teacher thing, didn’t even ask when they were.”

“You’re good at school though.”

“Yeah, ‘cause I’m smart, if I wasn’t my grades would be shitty and she still wouldn’t know,” I took the joint out of my lips and lifted it up to his. 

“The freedom must be kinda fun, though, right?” He said, voice strained from holding the smoke in for a few seconds before letting it out. 

“Sure,” I sighed, “I think I just want a mom more often, you know? It’s like she thinks making sure I don’t get pregnant at 18 is her whole job.”

Johnny scoffed a little, “To be fair _I_ definitely don’t want you to get pregnant at 18.”

I laughed at the thought, I bet he would actually pass out if I had to tell him he knocked me up.

“Well, at least your mom didn’t marry some asshole just because he’s rich,” he said, “kinda brave of her to do it on her own.” 

I thought about that for a moment and about his mom, and how small her voice got when Sid would talk over her. Any boyfriends my mom had that turned out to be assholes had always been kept far away from me, and it might have taken her some time, but she always chose to be poor and alone over being with someone who didn’t fit. I think I preferred it that way. 

“That’s true,” I admitted. 

“That’s why I was on every team, you know? Anything to get the fuck out of that house,” he said. I looked up at him.

“I didn’t know that,” I stroked my fingers over his forearm, “Is that why you joined Cobra Kai?”

“Kinda,” he shrugged, “also to prove to him I wasn’t a pussy and that he’d have to watch how much he messed with me.”

That thought made me sad, that he felt he had to protect himself that way in his own home.

“That sucks,” I said, not knowing what else to say.

“Yeah,” he said and smoothed some stray hair off my forehead, “we should just run away together.”   


I laughed a little bit and he smiled; I knew he was joking, and turned on my front to talk to him properly.

“Where to?” I asked, indulging it. 

“New York?” He smirked, “You could make sculptures and I could join a band or some shit.”

“Oh yeah? You wanna see what it’s like to be poor and bohemian?”

“Yeah,” he messed with my hair, twirling it around his fingers as he liked to do, “that sound good to you?”

“I already know what it’s like to be poor, but I guess it might be more fun if you’re around,” I relaxed against him, feeling pleasantly warm all over, gently mellowed, “or we get a van and just drive off, stay on the road.”

“Like those Springsteen songs you like,” he said, looking pleased with himself that he'd remembered that about me. 

“Exactly,” I smiled and kissed him, enjoying the thought of our silly plans that we never intended to see through, “that could work.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, thank you for all the lovely feedback! I'm a little ill at the moment so editing may be a bit slower on the next chapter but it's most of the way there so you won't be waiting too long. Hope you're all doing well and staying healthy. <3


	8. First, Second, Third, Fourth Times

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sexual content ahead, not as explicit as I usually write but obvs feel free to skip if that's not your thing. 
> 
> Also, I really should have split this into two chapters, but fuck it, enjoy a long one!

The next couple of months passed so quickly that I could hardly believe it when I went to Johnny’s house and saw a huge Christmas tree in the reception, expertly decorated by a small team of people and looking like something out of a catalogue. The music on the radio all changed and decorations sprung up in every store in town. A few days after that, my mom came through the door, dragging a tree that was small but not as close to death as the one the year before had been, shedding splinters and pine needles on the floor. 

“Hey, this is Daryl,” she said and the man helping her carrying the tree, cigarette in his mouth and trucker hat on, nodded to me, “he has a truck.”

“Cool,” I said, setting my book down on the arm of the chair, “I like your moustache.” 

He was not the first man with a pornstache my mom had brought home and she narrowed her eyes at me behind his back, knowing that I was teasing her by pointing it out. 

“Thank you, sweetheart,” he said earnestly and I smiled a little and got up to go to my room. There was no way this guy wasn’t going to be staying for a drink and listening to my mom flirt was by far my least favourite pastime. 

“Aren’t you staying to decorate?” Mom asked, shrugging off her coat.

“Usually we just throw on some lights and call it a day, right?” I said, pretty sure we didn’t even have any decorations, “I’m going out tonight, anyway.”

“Oh, really?” She said, terrible at disguising that she was secretly pleased I was leaving them alone. Gross.

“Yep, I’ll be back late though, so, you know, don’t forget I’m coming back,” I said and went to my bedroom to change. 

Johnny and I weren’t the only two people that had taken to hanging out most days; Sharon and Jesse had also been seeing each other a lot, though she was still dancing around calling him her boyfriend even though they seemed to spend most of their time together. To be fair, even though I thought of Johnny as my boyfriend in my head, we hadn’t explicitly _said_ that to each other.

It was going to be the first night we’d actually all hung out, the four of us and the rest of Johnny’s friends. I didn’t really see much of them, I wasn’t sure if he did it on purpose, but he tended to keep us separate, which was mostly fine with me. Most of them were totally fine to me, but there was an undercurrent of douchiness there that I couldn’t avoid being annoyed by. 

I was excited to see Sharon, more than anything else, I didn’t want her to think I was more interested in hanging out with Johnny than her, all of a sudden. 

Once I was dressed, wearing a skirt for a change with a black sweater that fitted a little tight and that I knew Johnny would like for that reason, I laced up my Doc Martens and headed out. My mom and Daryl were already drinking in the kitchen and didn’t pay any attention to me as I left, record spinning and chuckling between themselves. Johnny was already waiting for me in his car, top-down despite the chill in the air, jacket rolled up to his elbows. 

“Shit,” he said, looking me up and down as I crossed the yard; he was way too good at making me blush and elevating my ego.

“Can you give me a ride?” I asked, leaning my elbows on his door with a little smirk. 

“You can take my keys and keep the car if you want, gorgeous,” he smirked and watched me walk around his car to get in the passenger side, which was getting very familiar to me. My tapes were now mixed in with his and I could guarantee opening his glove box and finding my brush or a lipstick. 

We listened to music on the way and he told me about his day; practice for the All Valley Tournament, mostly, that was why he had a nasty bruise on his stomach that he lifted his shirt to show me, making me wince. There were a lot more bruises of late, the tournament was only a few months away and he struggled to talk about much else. I told him about how boring my day had been, and Daryl, with his pornstache and his neck tattoo.

“So, let’s just stay out as long as we can, alright? I really don’t need to hear that,” I made a face of disgust.

“Actually that’s kind of perfect. My mom and Sid are away tonight, was gonna ask if you want to sleepover,” he kept his eye casually out of the window but he was terrible at not looking sheepish when he had something else on his mind. 

“Oh, yeah? And I can stay in a guest room?” I teased, trying not to smile. 

“Why mess up a bed? Mine’s big enough, right?” He glanced at me, “I get scared in that big house alone.”

I laughed at that, shaking my head at him, “Well, I guess I just _have_ to keep you company then, huh?”

For the past few weeks, sex was a line that we had gone all the way up to but not crossed. Either there were too many parents around, or it was my time of the month, or I just hadn’t been ready for it on that particular day. Most of the time, Johnny was content to just get my bra off and have me jerk him off, which I had done enough times to figure out the technique to set him off in less than three minutes.

Still, the promise of that big house being totally empty was exciting and there really was no reason not to do it that day. I looked over at him, at how handsome he was and the little bit of colour in his cheeks and I knew I definitely wanted to, if he did. 

The Golf ‘n’ Stuff was busy, as it always was on a Saturday night, overflowing with teens in their cars, going on dates or trying to get them. I sprang out of the car as soon as I saw Sharon standing in line for food as if it hadn’t only been a couple of days since we hung out. 

“I’ve missed you,” I said, hugging her, “gym class once a week is not enough.” 

“I know,” she laughed, holding my elbows, “I’ve been a little distracted, I’m sorry.”

“No, so have I, obviously,” I assured her quickly, “can we hang out tomorrow? No boys?”

“Absolutely,” she said, “I really wanna see Sixteen Candles.”

“Oh my god, me too, let’s do it,” I said excitedly.

Looking behind us, we saw Johnny and Jesse standing there a little awkwardly, not really knowing each other that well. They weren’t alone for long though, the small procession of bikes alerted us to the rest of the Cobra Kai’s arriving and I braced myself for it when we went to greet them. Bobby and Tommy were fine, they’d always been pretty nice to me, but I still held a grudge against Dutch for insulting Sharon on the day of the strawberry milkshake incident. 

“Hey, you brought Molly Ringwald,” Tommy joked, tapping Johnny on the arm.

“Never heard that one before, Tommy,” I rolled my eyes but smiled at him, “you guys want some food?”

We all ended up sitting around one of the picnic tables, Johnny with his arm slung over my shoulder, as usual, more focussed on the hot dog than the conversation for a while; it really wasn’t fair how much junk he could eat and still look like that. 

The whole thing wasn’t so bad, once we slipped into conversation, Johnny and Jesse actually got along, even though I’d expected them not to have a lot in common, and I found myself talking to Tommy more than I ever had. He was pretty funny actually, and sweet when it was just him in conversation and not the whole group of them egging each other on. Dutch had brought a girl called Brenda with him that Sharon and I tried to include as much as possible, though she didn’t seem very interested in talking to us. 

“Hey, so you two are a thing?” Dutch gestured between Jesse and Sharon.

“Uh-huh,” Sharon nodded with a small smile, covering her mouth politely as she chewed her fries. 

“Oof, sorry, Bobby,” he batted his friend in the back, who looked embarrassed but laughed it off, “he was kinda into you.”

I saw Sharon’s cheeks go pink and bit the inside of my mouth. The guy just oozed dickhead, I didn’t like him at all. 

“Shut up, man,” Bobby said, leaning on his elbows and pointedly not looking at her.

“Sorry, sorry,” Dutch held up his hands, looking totally unapologetic, “new boyfriend probably doesn’t want to hear what you said about her, huh?”

Jesse, always extremely chill, shrugged a shoulder, “Doesn’t bother me, man, Bobby and I are cool. Sharon's a little shy, though." 

Dutch stayed smirking, not looking too pleased that Jesse hadn’t reacted as he wanted.

“Doesn't seem so shy to me... You don't mind me telling, do you sweetheart?” the energy around the table was growing increasingly uncomfortable. I glanced at Johnny in my peripheral vision; he was listening to Dutch, chewing on the end of his straw with an unamused expression.

“I don’t think-” I started, but Dutch cut me off.

“Said she looks like a nerd ‘til she turns around and you see she’s got an ass that could crack a walnut,” he laughed and his girlfriend did too; Bobby just looked like he wanted to fall through the floor and I saw Sharon’s cheeks glowing red.

Johnny spoke before I had to. 

“Why don’t you watch your mouth, man?” He said, tone flat but enough to quiet everyone at the table. It reminded me that he was very much the leader of this little group, he could actually be intimidating when he wanted to be. Not going to lie, it was kind of hot. 

“Just jokin’ around Johnny, you know, like _you_ used to do,” Dutch said with a nasty edge and I knew that comment was directed more towards me, “how about I tell cute little Jenna some of the shit you said you wanted to do to her before you became lovebirds?”

Annoyance and embarrassment flared up my neck and I desperately wanted to launch myself across the table at his stupid face. 

“Go ahead, say something about my girlfriend,” Johnny challenged with a nasty smirk of his own, “see how quick I lay you the fuck out.” 

Dutch stood up first, and Johnny stood up too, fist immediately clenched and tense from head to toe. 

“Guys, we’re all friends here,” Jesse tried to placate.

“Yeah, it’s not a big deal, let’s just-” Sharon tried. 

“You see the kind of pussies you’re hanging around with now, Johnny?” Dutch rounded the table at a leisurely pace, “Shit, she must be good in the sack to have you so whipped. But I always suspected that, honestly.”

Bobby, Tommy and I all leapt up at once to hold Johnny back from going for Dutch like he was about to; Tommy put a hand on his shoulder and Bobby stood slightly in front of him. I held his wrist and he looked at me, chest heaving. 

“What the fuck is your problem, Dutch?” Bobby snapped, “Always trying to start some shit.”

“Let him go,” Dutch held his arms out with a laugh, desperate for a fight, “don’t think I can take him?”

“Just get outta here, man,” Tommy said, tightening his grip on Johnny when he tried to lurch forwards again, “you’re being an asshole.”

He obviously expected at least someone to back him up, and his smirk turned to a scowl. I kept my hand on Johnny’s arm, feeling the tension in him and how much he wanted to strike. I couldn’t let him, as much as I wanted to see Dutch get kicked in the face, it was way too crowded and he would end up in huge trouble for it. 

“Fuck this,” Dutch snapped, “come on, Brenda.”

She got up, tugging her jacket around her, looking as uncomfortable as the rest of us before following him to his bike. None of us let go of Johnny until Dutch had driven off and he finally stopped pulling against us. 

“Jesus,” I let out a breath, loosening my grip on his wrist and looking at the others. 

“That was intense, dude,” Jesse said, putting a comforting arm around Sharon’s shoulders. 

“Should’ve let me goddamn hit him,” Johnny said, sitting down, jaw ticking.

“He’s not worth it,” Tommy sat down too, “he can’t do anything without looking for a fight.”

“Sorry about that, Sharon, what he said,” Bobby said, running a hand through his hair and looking extremely embarrassed, “it was just joking around - I just…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Sharon shrugged, still blushing a bit. 

“We all say stupid shit to friends,” Jesse said, clearly eager to move us all past the awkward situation. I looked at Johnny, who was quiet, leg bouncing with restrained energy. It was difficult for him to walk away from a fight, I knew, but I was glad he did. I waited until everyone fell back into the conversation before talking to him quietly. 

“You did good, you know? He was baiting you,” I rubbed his forearm gently. 

“He’s a psycho,” Johnny said and let out a sigh, looking at me finally, “shouldn't have invited him.”

“He’s your friend,” I shrugged, “you didn’t know he was going to say that shit.” 

“I should’ve seen it coming,” he said, “next time we’re sparring he’s gonna get the shit kicked out of him...” 

“Let me know when that’s happening, yeah? I wanna watch,” I kissed his cheek. Johnny relaxed a little and ate a cold fry, glancing at me. 

“Or I could just set you on him, think you’d have a good shot,” he said.

I snorted, “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, your neck gets all red when you’re mad, thought you were gonna swing first,” he put his arm around my shoulders, smiling a bit then. 

One of my favourite things to do when he was teasing me was to tease him back even harder, so I made sure no one was listening and brought my straw to my lips, “I’m sure we can get all that pent up energy out back at your place.” 

It was extremely satisfying to me to watch his cheeks go pink and see his adam’s apple move in a swallow.

After that, he was pretty antsy to leave and I could see him waiting impatiently by the car when I took my time saying goodbye to Sharon, while Jesse was already in the line for more food. 

“Are you sure you’re alright? Dutch was so fucking rude to you, again,” I said. 

“I’m fine, honestly,” she rolled her eyes, “he’s just a prick and he embarrassed himself more than me.”

“Yeah,” I nodded with a sigh and hugged her, “let me know if you want me to kill him for you, though… And have a good time. 12 tomorrow, yeah?” 

“Yep, I’ll pick you up,” she said, “and thank Johnny for defending me, will you?”

“Oh, I’ll thank him very enthusiastically,” I couldn’t help myself, glancing back at him leaning on the side of the car with his arms crossed. 

Sharon squeezed my arm, “Uh, what does _that_ mean?” 

I just shrugged and walked away from her, smirking to myself. 

“Jenna!” She protested, desperate for all the information as I knew she would be; I just shrugged when I looked back at her before getting into Johnny’s car.

“Chop, chop,” I said to him, tapping on the dashboard as if he hadn’t been waiting forever for me.

As soon as he got in the car I felt a pleasantly giddy feeling go through me. He didn’t take long about peeling out of the parking lot, laying on the horn irately when someone dared to cut him off. I smirked to myself, knowing full well why he was in such a hurry. It was fine, I definitely had not changed my mind. 

“Thank you for having Sharon’s back, by the way,” I said, “I know she’s my friend, not yours.”

“Fuck him,” he said, “Sharon’s a nice girl, he only picks at her ‘cause he’d never get a chance.”

I smiled to myself, “Poor Bobby, though, I’d kinda guessed he liked her.”

“Yeah, he was disappointed Sharon came with a date, he was gonna ask her out at the Halloween party until, you know...” 

“He’ll find someone else, he’s cute,” I shrugged, enjoying the cool air of the evening. 

“Is that right?” Johnny looked at me, the slightest jealous edge to his tone. I rolled my eyes, pretending I wasn’t kind of into his possessiveness and leaned over to put my chin on his shoulder.

“Not as cute as you though, of course,” I kissed his jawline, “sexy, gorgeous, big, strong man.”

“Shut up,” he grumbled at my teasing, but he didn’t nudge me away as I pecked at his cheek and over the side of his neck. It really did mean a lot to me that he would stand up against his friend for mine, I wasn’t sure the Johnny of a couple of months back would have. 

“So, what did you tell the guys you wanted to do to me before we started dating?” I asked and saw his ears get red. Clearly, he hadn’t expected me to bring that up. 

“Nothin’, he was talking shit…” He shrugged. 

“Terrible liar,” I said and kissed his cheek again before sitting back in my seat, “I’ll just use my imagination, then.” 

“Fine,” he said, not giving me anything.

“How dirty was it? Just tell me that,” I smirked.

“I’ve never said or thought anything dirty about you, babe,” he said, the side of his mouth quirking in a smile that showed his teeth, “pure stuff only.” 

I laughed, “Of course.”

We drove for a little while in comfortable quiet before I spoke again, “Can I point something out to you?”

“Yeah?”

“You called me your girlfriend tonight for the first time,” I said, smiling a little at the thought of how it had just slipped out of his mouth so easily.

“I did?” He glanced at me.

“Yeah, you said to Dutch ‘say something about my girlfriend,’” I said, enjoying the little embarrassed shuffle in his seat. 

“Oh, yeah…” he looked over at me, “you are my girlfriend though, right?”

“Of course I am, _boyfriend_ ,” I said, enjoying the way that sounded; I could tell he liked it, too. Johnny Lawrence was my boyfriend… God. 

It was odd to go into the Lawrence house at night, knowing it was completely empty. The big Christmas tree glowed in the reception, so at least it wasn’t dark, but I was kind of glad Johnny wasn’t having to stay there alone. Even though he’d been joking, _I_ would’ve been a little scared to be there by myself all night. Too many empty rooms and dark corners.

“You want anything?” Johnny asked, stretching out his arms so his shoulder blades cracked.

“Just the phone, need to tell my mom I’m not coming home tonight,” I said, heading for the living room where I knew it was.

Johnny went upstairs and waited for me. As expected, the call went to answerphone and I did not let my mind dwell on the gross reason that probably was. I left her a quick message hung up, taking a second just to be nosy about the framed pictures on the pristine sideboard next to the phone. 

They were nearly all of Johnny at various ages, always bright blonde and beaming at the camera, some were of him and his mom, some of Sid and his mom, none of the three of them together, which would seem strange if I didn’t know what I knew.

I could tell why Johnny liked going to my place despite how much bigger and nicer his was. Sid made the place feel cold, like he’d rather put up a barrier between him and Johnny and pretend he wasn’t there. It was all a little bit too clean and perfect; why were Johnny’s trophies all in his room? Didn't they want to have at least one on display?

At the top of the stairs, I could already hear his music playing and felt a twinge of excitement replace that sadder train of thought. It didn’t matter that I’d had sex before, I’d never done it with _him_ and that was an especially nervewracking prospect. I felt warm and a little trembly when I opened the door to his room, trying to keep my cool. 

Johnny was sitting on his bed, jacket off, reading the dust jacket of some album. I was sure he wasn’t doing it on purpose, but honestly, he could not possibly look more fuckable if he tried.

“Hey, your mom answer?” He asked when he saw me, setting it down.

“Nope, I left a message,” I went and sat beside him on the bed and tugged the yellow band he had tied around his forehead so it fell off into my hand, “your folks definitely aren’t coming back tonight?” 

“Definitely,” he said and watched me drop the band on the floor before kissing me immediately, not bothering to pretend with chitchat.

We ended up lying on the bed together like we had many times and I felt hazy and dizzy with it. My sweater was slung somewhere on the floor and my bra was hooked over his headboard. Johnny took off his shirt and threw it somewhere before kissing at my chest and stomach, making me wriggle under him, already breathless. 

I nudged his shoulder to back him off a little so I could take off my skirt and watched him tug at his own jeans, hands a little clumsier than usual. It was obvious that he was excited when his jeans were off, erection straining against his underwear. He looked at me for a moment and I felt flush under his attention as he wet his lips, eyes running over my breasts and up to my mouth. 

“You’re gorgeous,” he said quietly when he lowered himself onto me and kissed me, making a little noise when I pushed my tongue against his and scraped my nails over his scalp.

For a while, we stayed that way, underwear separating us and grinding against each other as we made out. I wondered if he was building up to taking my underwear off, or if he didn’t know how to ask.

“Johnny…” I said quietly, smoothing my hand over his cheek and enjoying the way he pulled back with a little lick on my bottom lip; my voice came out shaky, “do you want to get a condom?”

“Yeah, yes,” he said quickly enough to make me laugh a little bit. He got off me to lean off the bed and reach in his jeans pocket for his wallet. I looked up at the ceiling for a second and took a steadying breath, excited and nervous, hot all over to the point I wished we had opened a window. Shit, this was really about to happen. I touched my swollen lips. 

Johnny smiled at me in this ridiculously endearing way when he leaned back over me and handed me the condom; I bit my tongue when he took off his boxers, flushing over his chest and his face. He was perfect, tan skin covering strong, sculpted muscles - even the big bruise over his ribs just reminded me how good he looked in a fight, how strong he was. I'd honestly never pictured myself with anyone so hot outside of fantasies about actual celebrities.

“Come here,” I said, because he was clearly nervous, too, and got him to lean back over me so I could put the condom on for him. 

Johnny kissed me again deeply, exhaling through his nose as his fingers found the hem of my underwear and pulled them down. I’d had his underwear off plenty of times, but taking mine off was new for us. Once they were on the floor next to the bed, Johnny put a hand on my face, running his thumb over my lower lip. 

“You definitely want to do this, right?” He checked, pupils, dilated, chest rising and falling heavily. I liked that he checked and I kissed him again.

“Definitely… do you?” I gently scraped my nails over his back and made him shiver. 

“Jesus, what do you think?” he said with a sheepish little smirk. I giggled and kissed him again, raising my knees to his sides and shuffling down a little. 

There was a shake in his arms when he positioned himself and we both gasped at the sensation of him pushing inside me. 

“ _Oh_ ,” I moaned, eyes closing and making myself relax and not clench. It wasn’t my first time, but Johnny wasn’t small either, and the fullness took my breath. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and felt the tension in his back muscles, adjusting to the feeling of being entirely full. 

Johnny’s eyes closed and he moaned as he settled. 

“You good?” He asked and waited for me to nod before moving. 

It only took a few thrusts for it to start to feel good; he didn’t go hard or fast, getting used to the feeling and of what to do, but that was more than fine with me. Johnny moaned and held my hip in one large hand, moving with me. It just being _him_ got me worked up, even if he wasn’t the smoothest just yet. 

“Fuck,” he cursed and I opened my eyes to look at him; I was glad I did, he looked too good with his mouth open and a knit in his brow, high blush in his cheeks. Maybe it was just what we were doing, or the perfect way his hair fell over his forehead when he moved, but I thought I might love him at that moment, and I had to bite my lip to not say it. 

My eyes closed and I gasped when he brushed against a particularly good spot and I opened my mouth to tell him to do it again.

But Johnny tensed and his head fell into my shoulder; he pushed all the way inside me with a gasping groan against my skin and came. His hand grasped my hip tight and fisted the pillow behind my head. I held him through it, smiling to myself at the feeling, moaning along with him at how good it felt to make him feel good. 

“Oh, shit,” his face stayed buried in my shoulder, he was breathless, “sorry.”

I chuckled a bit and kissed his cheek; I hadn’t anticipated his first-ever time to go on all night. 

“It’s alright,” I said, rubbing his arms. Johnny panted against my skin and stayed there for a moment, a twitch in his stomach muscles, his body taking a while to fully relax. He finally got off me, pulling out carefully, and fell on his back beside me, sweaty hair on his forehead and his skin pink on his chest. 

“You’re just so hot and I’m super into you and-” He covered his face with his hands. 

“Stop explaining yourself, Johnny,” I said and shuffled against his side, “it felt good and we can do it again.”

“Yeah?” He looked down at me, surprised. I rested my chin on his chest and felt the muscles of his stomach, burning for more, but happy to be patient. 

“Yeah, we have all night,” I kissed the side of his neck and up to his jaw, “I haven’t even blown you yet.”

“God,” he pulled me up for a tired kiss, “you’re - fuck...” That sentence never got finished he just kissed me again and fisted a hand into my hair, touching me everywhere he could reach. 

In the end, it was definitely a memorable night as we got to know each other in a new way, finding out how he liked to be touched and how I liked to be. Our second time lasted a lot longer; I ended up holding onto his headboard and moaning in pleasure at the feeling of him. He let me turn us over so I could get on top control it, and when I had my first orgasm with him inside me, he held my waist and looked at me with something like awe, murmuring something I couldn’t hear over my own whimpering noises. 

By around 3am, we lay on the bed together, sweaty and breathless, still in the dark because neither of us had the will to get up and turn a light on. 

“Yeah, I’m definitely gonna marry you,” he said and I snorted out a laugh that echoed around his big bedroom. 

* * *

Any nervousness Johnny had about sex seemed to pretty much evaporate after that second time, in fact, it became clear that it was pretty much his new favourite pastime. My mom’s condom in the boot thing actually started to pay off, as the seats in the back of his Firebird could definitely attest to if they could speak. 

He was touchier at school as well, but I couldn’t say I minded, I liked when he would find me by my locker and kiss me like we were alone and I liked to walk everywhere under his arm. It was like a switch had been flipped in me. Maybe my first couple of times just hadn’t been that good, or I just wasn’t into the guy enough, but I’d gone from being pretty ambivalent about sex to pretty much thinking about it all the time, wanting to be touching him all the time. I mean, he was insanely hot, of course, he had that going for him, but it was everything else as well. 

We even ended up in one of the unused woodshop classrooms, a chair pushed against the door, covering my mouth with my hand so I didn’t make too much noise while the desk rattled underneath us and he muffled groans into my neck. I walked out with my cheeks bright red and finger marks on my thighs and adjusted his hair tie where the knot was almost completely twisted to the front. 

“That was stupid,” I said, looking up and down the empty hallway, knees shaky. 

“Not my word for it,” Johnny had said, still a little out of breath as he adjusted his belt and kissed my cheek. 

When I told Sharon about it in gym later that day I thought she might actually pass out from shocked laughter. It was impossible to keep it myself because I couldn’t quite believe I’d done it. 

“Are you kidding? That is insane,” Sharon giggled as we stood waiting for class to start, leaning on our field hockey sticks.

“I know,” I said, shaking my head at myself, “do you see this?” Lifting my hair, I showed her the obvious hickey in the juncture between my neck and my shoulder.

“Jesus, is he a Hoover vacuum?” She laughed in a scandalised way, “what if you’d got caught?”

“Probably died on the spot,” I said, still not knowing what had got into me, “imagine _that_ being what fucked up my college references.” 

“I think we need to exorcise this sex demon he’s put into you,” she said quietly when we saw our gym teacher start to jog across the field towards us. 

“Uh-huh, like you didn’t give Jesse a handy in the boy’s locker room?” I smirked. 

She went red, biting back her laugh and elbowing me in the side, “Can’t tell you shit...”

Our teacher split the class in two, Sharon and I on the same team, her in the goal. I didn’t miss the fact that I was playing against Ali and that we both usually played attack in hockey. Maybe I was imagining it, but I could swear I saw her looking at me before the game started and we both skirmished for the ball. 

I focussed on the game as much as possible, feeling more competitive than normal even though that may have been a little childish of me. The past few weeks of History classes she hadn’t said a word to me, and I hadn’t to her, either.

We exchanged a couple of goals each, and it was when I was guiding the ball down the field to score that she bumped into my side, knocking me to the ground to get the ball and whack it into our goal. It definitely wasn't just a knock either, it was a full-on hip-check. I looked up at her with open shock on my face, wrist hurting where I broke my fall.

Her team cheered and she put her arms up in celebration, blond curls bouncing around her face. She seemed never to sweat, it was like it was impossible for her to look bad. Maybe that’s why it pissed me off more than it usually would. 

“You did that on purpose,” I pointed at her with my stick and got up, temper getting away from me immediately, flyaways tickling my nose.

“Chill out, I did not,” she said, still smiling.

“Bullshit,” I said, brushing grass off where it was stuck to my thigh. The game stopped then, everyone was more interested in us. All she had to do was apologise for knocking me down. 

Ali looked me up and down and crossed her arms, “You know, Johnny and you might be perfect for each other, you’re both crazy,” she said derisively. 

“Say that again,” I dropped the stick on the ground and she did the same, walking towards me. 

The last of my cool was steadily slipping out of my fingers; Johnny and Daniel hadn’t even interacted for months and she still had beef with me. 

“I said you’re both fucking crazy,” she repeated, hands on her hips.

“Yeah and you’re a snotty fucking bitch,” I said, standing close to her. 

“Ladies, enough,” the gym teacher approached us and we stood holding each other’s eye for a second. Was I about to hit her? Was she about to hit me? I wasn’t sure, but my fist was clenched at my side, and the image of swinging for her was definitely right there at the forefront of my mind, burned on the back of my eyelids when I blinked, “this language is unacceptable, go and sit down right now, you’re both benched.” 

Ali and I marched over to the edge of the field and sat down a good two meters apart on the ground, arms crossed. I looked over at her, all pretty and blonde, and I could feel the judgement coming off her like I did every time she looked at me. That’s why I heard a subtext when she called me out for being with Johnny, that look in her eye that said ‘why is he with _you_ now anyway?’ 

“Why don’t you just admit you meant to knock me over?” I said, unable to let it go.

“I tackled you and you fell,” she said, not looking at me, messing with the lace of her sneaker, “I don’t know why you’re always looking for a fight with me.”

“ _Me_? You just called me crazy,” I frowned, “and you can’t talk to me without saying something shitty about Johnny.” 

“We haven’t talked for weeks,” she rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, and the first time we did you talked shit about us both,” I snapped back.

Ali sighed and looked over at me. 

“Johnny’s passenger seat is never empty for long, alright? I wouldn’t burn too many bridges fighting his battles if I were you,” she said and the words stung enough that I had to resist actually flinching, “he’ll drop you and move on soon.” 

I looked at her for a long time and fought against absolutely every muscle in my body that wanted to launch itself at her. Instead, I got up quickly and marched across the field, ignoring my gym teacher calling after me and heading straight for the school. My ears burned and I could feel my pulse in my neck; I rarely let people’s words hurt me like that, but they did. Probably because it was like she had laid my insecurities out on the table and stuck a hot needle into them. 

My gym teacher wouldn’t abandon the class to follow me, so I changed quickly and hid in one of the girl’s bathroom stalls. It was hard for me to think of everything good between Johnny and me at that moment, as I sat on the closed seat and tried not to angry-cry. He had been with her right before me, he’d liked her so much that he started that whole thing with Daniel over her. Was he really just over that? Would he get over me that quick?

“Shit,” I tried to stamp it out because Johnny and I had been together for a few months and he hadn’t given me any indication he was about to drop me. He was into me, I knew that for a fact. I was letting her get into my head and it wasn’t fair. 

Still, the horrible, insecure feeling was going nowhere. I looked over the wall of the stall, covered in ink and carvings, and I took my sharpie out of my bag to write ‘FUCK YOU’ on there as if that childish action would make me feel better. 

It was easy not to think about her and how pretty and well-bred she was until we were face to face like that. She and Johnny had looked exactly right together. 

I waited out the rest of the day in that stall, in too bad of a mood to be around anyone. I just read my book and leaned back on the wall until the bell rang. 

Outside, I moved quickly through the crowd heading home towards the parking lot, knowing if my gym teacher caught me I would definitely be getting detention for leaving class. I beelined for Johnny’s car, where he was already standing talking to Bobby. I didn’t say anything to either of them, just got in the passenger seat and waited for him to get in. 

“Jenna, what’s up?” Johnny asked, talking through the window. 

“Can we just go?” I said, feeling tears sting my eyes. He and Bobby exchanged a look, but I didn’t really care, I just crossed my arms and bit the inside of my mouth. 

“Are you pissed off at _me_?” He asked when he got in, turning the key and pulling out. 

“No, I’m just pissed off,” I said, leaning my elbow on the window.

“About what?” He asked, his gentle voice for once doing nothing to calm me down.

“Ali,” I said bluntly, “she’s so fucking - she thinks she’s so _perfect_ , she thinks she’s so much better than me and she knows you so much better than I do, and maybe she does! _You_ really seemed to like her. Maybe you told her everything about yourself.” 

Johnny went quiet, his jaw clenched and I _knew_ I wasn’t being fair. As far as he knew we were fine, I was just biting his head off out of nowhere. 

“She doesn’t know shit about me, we didn’t even date that long,” he stopped at a red light, looking over at me.

“But you liked her, right? She’s pretty and blonde and rich and perfect and you liked her and she dumped you so you’re stuck with me,” I almost didn’t know where it was all coming from, it poured out of my mouth. 

Johnny looked at me and I knew I had hurt him, but I didn’t take it back because I was too raw, the meanness was stinging my throat. I was usually so good at keeping a lid on any insecurity, but apparently not that day, I felt like a raw nerve. 

He went quiet and drove for a while, and I stayed quiet too, not questioning when he pulled off the road and onto a familiar overlook above the city. When he switched off the ignition he looked at me. I kind of wondered if he might yell at me. 

“You’re fucking kidding right now, right?” He said flatly, not yelling at me, because of course he wouldn’t, “After all the stuff we’ve done… you actually think I give a shit about her anymore?” 

“Oh, because we fucked a bunch, suddenly that relationship didn’t happen at all?” 

“Not just that - I told you I never liked anyone as much as you, you think I was lying?” he asked and I couldn’t look at him. 

I felt the urge to cry rise up in my throat that I was making him defend himself like that. Maybe it had just taken that little push from her to make me notice how much animosity I’d held towards her, that undercurrent of jealousy I couldn’t shake. 

“You’re being crazy,” he said, and the desire to cry faded. 

“Screw you,” I snapped and got out of the car and slammed the door, a little too hard.

“What the fuck, Jenna?” Johnny got out too, looking at me incredulously, “what the hell is going on with you?”

“I don’t know! Turns out I’m insecure and jealous I guess,” I held out my arms. Maybe I _was_ losing it. “I’m just so sick of being told who I am and who you are like I don’t know both of those things. People don’t get why you’re with me, you know? They’re just waiting for you to come to your senses and date Ali Mills 2.0.”

Johnny stared at me and I couldn’t make out his expression. Dumbfounded, pretty much, but I went on, releasing it all, everything I’d barely noticed was there. 

“Ever since we started dating people have been _staring_ at me, picking me apart, having their opinion on why I’m with you or why you’re with me,” I ran a hand through my hair, “I think it’s just been getting to me more than I thought. 

“I’m sorry,” he looked down, kicking gravel, hands in his pockets.

“No, it’s not your fault,” I shook my head, “the reason I get mad about it is that I care about you so much and it pisses me off when people talk shit about you. It pisses me off when people act like we shouldn’t be together, ‘cause they’re _so wrong. You_ don’t even know how happy I am when I’m around you, why would they know?” 

Johnny seemed not to know what to say and I was aware that I was maybe coming off way too strong.

“So, that’s why I’m a little defensive of you… of us... I guess,” I crossed my arms, feeling embarrassed, “congrats on bagging a psycho.”

I went to get back in the car, wanting to go home, getting the awful feeling that I’d fucked it all up already. But Johnny stopped me with a hand on my waist. 

“I-” Johnny struggled for words and shook his head, opting to lean down and kiss me instead. He put his arms around me and pulled me up against him so I had to stand on my tiptoes, then he pulled apart and touched his forehead to mine, “I’ve never had someone on my side like you, Jenna.”

I put my arms around his waist and let that sink in for a moment. 

“I don’t know what to say to make you feel better, I’m not as good with words as you,” he pulled back to rest a hand on my jaw and look at me, “but don’t compare yourself to anyone else, alright? No one in that school has a goddamn patch on you. I actually can’t believe you wanna be my girlfriend, most days.”

Really not wanting to cry and further out myself as super over-emotional, I buried my face in his chest and hugged him tighter. 

“You’re pretty fucking good with words, actually,” I said and heard him breathe a little laugh out of his nose, “I’m sorry for losing it, maybe I’m PMSing,” I mumbled into his shirt. 

“I’m familiar with losing it, not the PMS part, obviously...” he said and I chuckled a bit then too, pulling back to look up at him. 

“Do you still like me even though I’m not really cool and chilled out?” I asked. Johnny kissed me gently. 

“I like everything about you, babe, even the psycho part,” he smirked and I shoved him gently, rolling my eyes. Johnny pulled me right back in by the hips and kissed me deeper that time, smoothing his fingers through my hair. When he pulled back he leaned against the car and I relaxed my weight on him, feeling a lot better. He was good at that.

“You wanna go for a cheeseburger and a movie?” He asked, knowing they were my preferred activities on a bad day.

“Two cheeseburgers and a double feature,” I said, resting my chin on his chest. 

“Perfect,” he kissed my forehead and pulled back to get in the car, but I grabbed his hand and stopped him.

“Let’s get in the back first, though, so I can apologise properly,” I fought off smirking too much at his pleasantly shaky exhalation and the way he wet his lips.

“Yes, ma’am.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for the great comments, as usual, guys, I've had some this week that have seriously cracked me up. I'm not feeling too bad, atm, will be back very soon. x


	9. A New Year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Those of you that are nerds about the movie, don’t panic that December is passing in the story and I’m not mentioning the tournament, I know that's when it supposed to happen but artistic license, okay? It’ll come a little later.
> 
> Also, I'm going to be posting the next chapter pretty much immediately after this one so keep your eyes open.

Thanksgiving came and went, then Christmas, and then suddenly it was New Year’s Eve and I was standing with Johnny in the middle of an incredibly fancy party at the Lawrence-Weinberg house. Johnny had spent most of Christmas at my place, after opening presents and eating dinner with his mom, and it had actually been one of the best ever, honestly. Of course, my mom couldn’t buy me much, which I didn’t mind, but we played board games and ate way too much, and even Daryl came over with a big case of wine coolers and some thick socks wrapped in sparkly gold gift wrap for me - turned out he was a nice guy and I was a little too quick to make fun of his moustache. He and Johnny arm-wrestled for the last chicken leg and Daryl could not believe he lost to a ‘kid.’

I got Johnny what I could afford: a big box of his favourite snacks, a bootleg VHS of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and a spare headband for when his regular one got too sweaty. He seemed excited about it all, although his gift to me was a lot grander: a delicate gold necklace with a moon pendant that I had worn every day since and guarded with my life, still disbelieving I owned something so pretty and expensive. I touched it all the time, making sure it was still there and I teared up when he gave it to me.

That little Christmas in my house was much more my element than the big party I was at for New Year. It was fully Sid’s event, so Johnny and I were by far the youngest people there; even his mom was young amongst the film industry producers and executives wearing very nice suits and talking over their wives. The room smelled like very expensive perfume and an elegant quartet played in the corner. It was a drag.

We stayed for as long as we had to, enduring questions about college and how long we’d been together and if he would be proposing at graduation. 

“Uh, if he does you’ll see me sprinting off school property like an Olympic athlete,” I joked, but the couple we were talking to didn’t seem to find it very funny.

“Not my audience,” I whispered to Johnny when they walked off. 

Not long after that, Johnny slipped a bottle of champagne off the vast table of drinks in the reception hall and hid it in his jacket, I politely asked a waiter if I could take a tray of the delicate mini cakes over to a group I pointed out. We snuck out the back then and waited for midnight by walking around his neighbourhood drinking champagne out of the bottle and eating way too many little lemon cakes. 

“Is your mom gonna be pissed off we left?” I asked, feeling tipsy, my calves aching as we trudged uphill to get to the highest point in Encino Hills. 

“Nah, she’s drunk already,” he said and handed me the bottle, “can’t blame us for not wanting to hang out with boring old people all night.” 

“They  _ were _ boring,” I said and took a big sip, “you’d think they’d have something interesting to talk about since they work in movies, right?”

“You’d think.”

We got to the top of the road where there were fewer houses and the street started to get quieter. Johnny scrambled up a little dry dirt hill first then held out his hand to help me up. The view was gorgeous, really. It was easy to forget how pretty the city was given how we spent our lives in such a small part of it, but it struck me then as we sat overlooking it, lit up against the night sky as it was. I laid the fancy silver tray on the dirt between us and shoved a cake in my mouth. 

“What time is it?” I asked, and the words were barely out of my mouth before fireworks started going off in every direction we could see, bursting colour over the skyline.

“Midnight, I think,” he joked and put an arm around my shoulders and kissed my temple, “happy new year.” 

* * *

I didn’t go back to his house again for a couple of days, avoiding the clean up from the party and any admonishment about our escaping from it. When I did go back, the tree was gone along with all the decorations and I realised how soon we would be returning to school. Maybe that was why we wanted to have our last bit of fun before going back to real life after the haze of the holidays. I hugged my knees to my chest and pressed my lips together tight, fighting the urge not to burst out laughing. It was pretty immature, yeah, but Johnny’s house was too perfect for hide-and-seek to waste. So I sat under the grand piano, the seat placed just so it would mostly hide me, and tried not to giggle and reveal my position.

Johnny’s Converse squeaked on the marble when he walked around looking for me. I heard him go into the living room, then the kitchen, watching his legs walk right by me.

“I can smell your perfume...” he teased, talking out loud to the reception, clearly trying to make me snort; there was no way he could smell anything. The pantry door creaked when he checked in there and tried to keep as still as possible. He obviously tried to step a bit more quietly after that, because I could tell he was tiptoeing when he passed the piano the second time. 

He stood there for a moment, right in front of me, hands on his hips, so I couldn’t resist. I reached out from under the seat and grabbed his ankle, “Boo!”

“Shit!” He jumped visibly, turning around so fast he almost tripped, and I fell onto my side in hysterics at how he yelled, unable to catch my breath when he knelt down to drag me out on the marble so I was on my back in front of him, “not funny!” Johnny tickled my sides mercilessly then, until my eyes watered and I actually felt like I could pee myself. 

“Oh my god, you were so scared,” I wiped my eyes when he finally relented, “I’m telling Kreese those classes aren’t making you tough at all.”

“You’re not telling anyone shit,” he was pink-cheeked and unable not to laugh when I was, “that was fucked up.” 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I stuck out my bottom lip and poked him in the stomach, “sorry you’re a widdle scaredy baby…”

Johnny scoffed at me and knocked my hand away from him, taking both my wrists and pinning them to my sides, not too hard, just enough to make me huff at his strength when I tried and failed to get up. 

“Damnit,” I tried again but he was way stronger than me, “not fair.”

“‘Not fair’ is scaring a person during hide-and-seek, that’s against the rules, babe,” he kneeled over me.

“What’s my punishment?” I asked, grinning like I didn’t already know. Johnny leaned down but he didn’t kiss me on the lips, he put his mouth straight on my neck and sucked the skin there in a way that would give me yet another hickey I would have to hide for school, “of course…”

Johnny kissed up the side of my neck to my ear, knowing I was ticklish there and running his tongue over my earlobe.

“Johnny!” I squirmed away from him, laughing. 

“Take your punishment,” he laughed too, kissing and licking at my skin relentlessly. 

When the front door opened, we both thankfully had time to break apart, although we were still on the floor, out of breath and red-faced.

“Great, they’re canoodling in my reception,” Sid grumbled, closing the door behind his wife.

I blushed, embarrassed. Johnny looked immediately annoyed and stood with a sigh, holding out a hand to help me up.

“Please, they’re just messing around,” his mother admonished, “hello, sweetheart.” She said to me. His mom had a tendency to float around, I noticed, always wearing some long pretty dress with her hair loose around her shoulders. She was kind of the polar opposite to mine; quiet, small and delicate.

“Hi,” I smiled and surreptitiously pulled my hair over the side of my neck he had just been focussed on, “I love your dress.” 

“Thank you,” she smiled graciously.

“That’s because it doesn’t have holes in it,” Sid barked a laugh, and I glanced self consciously down at my jeans that I had intentionally ripped holes in when they started to wear down for real. It was embarrassing that he noticed, it made me feel like I  _ was _ visibly poor and terrible at hiding it. 

“Shush,” Mrs Lawrence, (she had told me to call her Laura but that didn’t feel right), said to him with a small, appeasing smile, clearly noticing my discomfort, “are you staying for dinner tonight?”

“Uhh…” So far, in the months I had been dating Johnny, I hadn’t had more than a quick conversation with his parents. It was Johnny’s request because he didn’t want us to have to sit through dinner with Sid, but I was running out of excuses.

“Please do, it’s been months, it’s about time we fed you, I don’t know what your mother must think of us sending you home hungry all the time,” she put her hand on my shoulder and I couldn’t see how I could say no. Sid didn’t seem interested either way, going to the living room to smoke his cigar. At least Johnny seemed to relax when he was out of the room. 

“Oh I never leave this house hungry,” I said, glancing at Johnny, “but yeah, I’ll stay for dinner, thank you.”

“Good,” she smiled at me enthusiastically, “you can help me make the pasta if you want.”

“Sure, I’d love to,” I said and she seemed pleased with that. She was too sweet to say no to, I could tell why Johnny was so protective of her. 

“And I can go practice for the All Valley?” Johnny suggested with a sly smile. 

“Don’t you have English homework?” I teased, unable to resist smirking at him. He gave me a look like he would curse if his mom wasn’t right there. 

“I think that’s my line,” Mrs Lawrence chuckled before guiding me into the kitchen.

I felt a little awkward at first, not sure what to say to her, but I relaxed and followed her instructions despite the fact I’d never made fresh pasta before, not wanting to screw up something so simple and embarrass myself. 

“You’ve got it,” she said, watching me turn the handle on the pasta maker, “are you good there while I make the sauce?”

“Yep,” I nodded.

The muffled sound of Led Zeppelin started playing upstairs and knew Johnny was definitely practising his drills for the tournament and not reading John Steinbeck. 

“I’m surprised you ever manage to get him out of the dojo, lately,” his mom said as she chopped up tomatoes. 

“It’s not easy,” I admitted, “it’s cool that he’s so committed, though.”

“It is,” she said, “I was a little worried about him before, to tell you the truth, he was obsessed with it, and he could be so angry…”

I glanced over at her profile and noticed the sad look on her face; I bit my lip against the urge to tell her that Sid was a lot to do with him being angry and that Cobra Kai was just how he dealt with it. 

“He seems to balance it out a little better now, though, even his grades are better,” she said, brightening up a little, “I think I have you to thank for that, don’t I?” 

“I don’t know about that,” I laughed a little nervously, “I’m not taking the tests for him.” 

“I know,” she chuckled, “but he just seems happy. I like it when he’s happy.”

I finished making the pasta shapes out of our dough and brought the bowl to her. 

“Me too,” I said and we smiled at each other for a second. She was a good mom, I could tell, she just thought that bringing money into Johnny’s life was the best thing for him, even though I was pretty sure he would get rid of his bike and his car in a heartbeat if it meant Sid would leave. 

I laid the table while she finished dinner and lit the candles in the middle; she praised me for turning the fabric napkins into little lotus flowers, though Sid didn’t seem to notice when he came in and shook it out to lay on his lap. 

“Johnny, dinner!” She called up the stairs.

When he came down and we sat around the big dining table, Johnny next to me, Sid and Mrs Lawrence across from us, an awkwardness definitely set in again that I hadn’t felt before when it was just me and her. At least the food was good, that was a decent distraction.

“So, what does your mother do for a living?” Sid asked me finally, one of the only times he’d directly addressed me. 

“She’s a waitress,” I said, “she also bartends some weekends.”

“I used to be a waitress,” Mrs Lawrence said to me, “when Johnny was little.”

“Yeah, until you lucked out,” Sid laughed a bit, she did too, glancing at me. I didn’t like the implication that my mom was somehow  _ unlucky _ just because she still had those jobs. 

“Did she go to college?” Sid asked me, and I swallowed my mouthful quickly, beginning to feel examined. 

“No, uh,” I took a sip of water, “she had me when she was 19, so she didn’t really have time.”

Sid barks a laugh, “Bet she’s hoping you’re careful around this one then, huh?” He gestured to Johnny with his fork. Johnny’s jaw ticked like it did when he was annoyed and I moved my leg over to touch his, just so I didn’t have to verbally tell him to keep his cool. 

“Yeah,” I forced a little laugh, “but, she knows I’m going to college so…” I shrugged.

“What college?” He asked and took a sip of his whiskey. 

“Berkeley, hopefully.”

“How impressive,” Mrs Lawerence said brightly, overcompensating a little to cover the tension. 

“Yeah, she’s really smart,” Johnny said, looking from her to his stepfather. Sid didn’t really seem to register that he was talking. 

“How are you gonna pay for it?” He asked me, like it wasn’t a personal question. 

“Sid…” Mrs Lawrence finally said quietly. 

“What? It’s just a question,” he shrugged, looking at me as if she were crazy. 

“It’s okay… I’ve applied for a lot of scholarships,” I told him and took a bigger forkful of food, eager for the dinner to be over, chewing fast. 

“What if you don’t get one?” He asked and my neck burned. As if that thought hadn’t bothered me a lot already. 

I shrugged and covered it with a joke, “The burger joint is always hiring, right?”

Sid laughed at my joke, apparently completely unaware of how embarrassed the interrogation had made me. We went back to eating and I could feel the wound up energy coming off Johnny next to me. 

“What does your father do, Jenna?” Mrs Lawrence asked, clearly trying to lighten up the conversation. It didn’t help, it just made me feel as if I were adding another layer of what Sid expected from a girl from the crap part of town who wore ripped jeans because she only had two pairs. 

“I don’t know,” I said trying to keep my tone light, “he’s not around.”

“Figures,” Sid scoffed into his whiskey.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Johnny’s cool finally broke and he dropped his fork down with a clatter. 

“Johnny…” His mother warned.

“No, seriously, if he’s gonna sit here and question my girlfriend he might as well be straight up about it,” he snapped, “right, Mom?”

Johnny looked at her for help, for her to back him up, his blue eyes shining with emotion in a way that made my heart hurt. 

“I’ve never met a boy so goddamn touchy,” Sid said dismissively, “you should borrow one of her skirts.” He nodded at me. 

Johnny stood up, his chair wobbling almost falling over, Sid stood up too and the escalation made me panic. I looked at his mom for help but she just looked exhausted from it, as if it happened all the time. 

“Please…” She said quietly, looking up at her husband. 

“No, Laura, the boy has something to say,” he held out his hand to shush her and I felt angry on her behalf as well, then. 

“I got a lot to say you fu-”

I stood up quickly and put my hand on Johnny’s forearm. He looked at me, chest rising and falling, deep frown in his forehead.

I just shook my head at him and squeezed his arm a little, trying to tell him without words that the fight wasn’t worth it. I could see him battling with himself, wanting to have it out until he finally let a breath out of his nose and looked back at his stepdad. 

“We’re going,” he said finally and took my hand, leading me out. 

“Thank you for dinner, Mrs Lawerence,” I said to her and tried to force a smile.

“You’re welcome, sweetheart,” she said in a small voice. 

Johnny and I left in a hurry; it was a relief to be in the fresh air and out of the cloying atmosphere around the dinner table. Outside, he slammed the side of his fist into the roof of his car and stood there for a moment. I let him take a breath until he was ready to unclench his fist. When he was a little calmer, he turned to face me, leaned down and put his head in my shoulder and held me around the waist for a while. I wondered how many dinners ended like that, with Johnny hurt and storming out of the room. 

“Do you want to go to the movies?” I stroked the back of his hair. He nodded and I felt him breathe out a small laugh.

“Yes,” he pulled back and looked at me, “Rambo?”

“Again? Alright…” I kissed his cheek and we got in the car, driving quietly for a little while. 

“I’m sorry about dinner, it sucked,” he said, “just ignore him, he’s a fucking asshole.” 

“It’s alright,” I said, “I liked talking to your mom, at least. And I know how to make fresh pasta, now.” It was better to brush it off than make him feel guilty about it.  _ He _ wasn’t the asshole. 

After the movie I knew he would want to stay at my place, it had become a new habit since he’d stayed over on Christmas night.

My mom and Daryl were laying on the couch watching TV when we got in; he was becoming a pretty frequent fixture there, actually. 

“Hey, look what Daryl got us!” She said excitedly and pointed over to the kitchen wall. A neon sign, way too bright for such a small room, hung there, clearly taken from a bar given that it had the outline of a huge-boobed woman laying seductively on top of a beer glass, “isn’t it cool?”

I glanced at Johnny and he fixed his expression straight; it was not cool, it was very ugly.

“Yeah, mom,” I said, forcing a smile, “thanks, Daryl.”

“That’s alright, honey,” he said, looking pleased with himself, “I saw it and straight away thought of your mom.”

Johnny snorted and I elbowed him in the ribs. 

“Cool,” I said, hopefully convincingly, “we’re gonna go to my room.” 

“Okay, leave the door open,” my mom said before laughing to herself, “that’s what I’m supposed to say, right?”

Of course, it was Johnny, so we closed the door behind us and locked it and he picked me up around my ass and got me to wrap my legs around him immediately. 

“Show off,” I held onto his shoulders, enjoying his strength.

“You like it though,” he kissed me and soon after dropped me on the bed and got between my legs. 

I knew where it was headed as soon as he pushed himself against me, already starting to get hard as usual. It never took much for him to get excited and I didn’t mind that, made me feel kind of hot that I did it for him like that. 

Soon, my clothes were scattered across the floor and I was on top of him, trying to keep my lips clamped shut and my whimpering to a medium. We were both quiet about it, up until the point that he finished, gripping my thighs, and let out a groan so loud and recognisable that I clamped my hand over his mouth and stopped moving completely. Not that it made any difference to him, holding me there until his muscles relaxed and he could open his eyes again. He laughed against my palm breathlessly when he noticed my shocked expression.

“Dickhead,” I hissed, glancing towards the door and hoping to god they hadn’t heard that. 

It was weird how quickly I got used to having in bed with me after that first night he’d stayed there when I’d got no sleep at all. I always got under his arm after so I could lay my cheek on his chest and hear his heart, and I ended up falling asleep that way a lot. I was close to it that evening, running my fingers over the lines of his stomach muscles. 

“You wanna go away next weekend?” He asked me, looping my hair around his fingers and letting it slip about like he did a lot. 

“Yeah?” I asked, surprised. 

“Yeah, Sid’s got a cabin near Lake Cachuma, super fancy, secluded...” he said. I rested my chin on his chest to look at him. 

“You’ve seen Friday the 13th, right? Going to a secluded cabin to have sex is a terrible idea.” 

“I’ll protect you from any psycho killers,” he smirked. I thought about it; we’d never been away together before, I’d never even considered it, really, given my utter lack of funds. It sounded pretty great though. School was stressing me out a lot.

“Are you sure Sid won’t mind?” I asked. 

“Probably, but I know where the keys are, what is he going to do?”

I sighed and settled back onto him. 

“You don’t wanna go,” he said, disappointed. 

“No, I really do, I just don’t want you to get in trouble,” I sat up to get my can of soda off the end table and take a sip. 

“I’m always in trouble. Getting to screw you without you having to cover my mouth would definitely be worth it,” his fingers stroked over the line of my spine and I scoffed. I should’ve guessed that was his main motive. 

“Okay, let’s do it,” I said and thought about it a little more. If it was Sid’s cabin it would probably be pretty big, almost too big to waste all that space, “can we invite Sharon and Jesse?” I asked, anticipating him groaning as he did. 

“The point is to be  _ alone _ ,” he said, almost whining. 

“Sharon can handle hearing us do it…” I shook him a little, “c’mon, it’ll be fun with all four of us. I haven’t hung out with her in forever.”

Johnny looked up at me and the puppy dog expression I was trying and pretended not to be amused by it, “Plus, you know she’ll get us high,” I added. 

I saw his brow twitch at that, “Good point,” he conceded, “alright, they can come.”

“Thank you,” I leaned over him to kiss him and made sure he got a good view of my chest when I leaned back, “I’ll make sure you have a good time.” 

Johnny exhaled out of his nose and looked me over, fully aware of what I was doing but definitely convinced by it anyway. He tugged me down for a kiss and felt over my chest, thumb moving across my nipple and making me shiver. I pulled back with a little peck on his lips. 

“I’m surprised you want to go away so close to the All Valley,” I settled back into his side. 

“Partly why I wanna go, get my mind off it for a second,” he said. 

“You’ll be awesome, you know that.” 

“You’ll still be my girlfriend if I lose?” He looked down at me and I chuckled.

“I’ll still be your girlfriend,” I assured him.

“You won’t run off with LaRusso if he kicks my ass?”

I laughed properly then, “If the tournament ends with you looking like you did ten rounds with Apollo Creed and I have to wheel you out, I’ll still climb into your lap as soon as we get home and kiss all your bruises, I swear.”

“Good,” Johnny picked up some of my hair to mess with again.

* * *

“Dude, it’s January, you’re not going to need a bikini,” I watched Sharon packing her bag in her bedroom, spinning in her desk chair.

“We’re not gonna swim?” She asked, holding the bright pink thing aloft in her hand. 

“Again, it’s  _ January _ and we’re not going to Miami it’s a dirty lake,” I spun myself faster, “I’m not trying to get hypothermia  _ and _ a UTI.” 

“Good point,” Sharon sighed and dumped it on her bed, “Jesse and Johnny are gonna get along, right?”

“Yeah,” I shrugged and stopped spinning before I puked, “they like each other.”

“Johnny doesn’t care that he used to have a thing for you?” Sharon asked, rifling through her drawer full of sweaters.

“I mean, technically he doesn’t know about that but… I’m sure he wouldn’t care,” I said although I wasn’t sure about that at all. Honestly, I really hadn’t thought about it; Jesse hadn’t been into me in forever, “ _ you _ don’t care.” I pointed out. 

“No, but it  _ was _ kind of weird at first when he started showing an interest in me,” she said, “like, I know he hasn’t been into you for a long time but it definitely threw me off at first.” 

I considered her for a moment, “You think it would throw Johnny off?”

“Oh, 100%,” she chuckled, not sugarcoating it, “so if you don’t wanna mention it, I get that.” 

Chewing my thumbnail, I put my foot up on her desk, “Yeah, let’s keep it in the past. Don’t want to give Johnny a reason not to like your boyfriend.”

“That would make things very awkward for us,” Sharon said, a little amused, then held up a black sweater with sparkly silver threads in it to herself, “does this look good to you?”

“Hot,” I said and went back to spinning, “don’t forget to leave room in your bag for booze.”

“Shit, that reminds me - look in the shoebox up there,” she pointed to her wardrobe. I got up and did as she said, pulling down the purple box and setting it on her bed to open. The smell of the huge clear baggie of weed hit me first and my mouth dropped open.

“Oh my god,” I picked it up and pressed it to my nose, “I love you.”

“Are you talking to me or it?” 

“Both,” I said, “guessing your brother came to visit?”

“Uh-huh,” she said, “I’m gonna have to unload some shoes actually, he brought me a huge bong as well.” 

I laughed and went to put the bag in her suitcase, but we both heard the familiar creak of the floorboard just outside her bedroom door, and only had a second to exchange a panicked look before it started to open. Thank every deity there was, I had worn a skirt that day, and I managed to wedge the bag between my thighs, hiding it underneath. 

“Hey girls,” it was Sharon’s mom, “you want pizza for dinner?”

“Sounds great,” I smiled brightly, standing very still. 

“Sure mom, thanks,” Sharon tried her best to sound normal and not on edge as her mom closed the door and walked away. 

“Oh my god,” I started laughing and took the bag out of my skirt quickly, hiding it under her clothes, “that was close.”

“I was just nearly grounded until goddamn college,” Sharon was less amused than me, falling on her back on the bed, “my back is sweating.”

“Hey, my quick thinking saved us, don’t worry,” I refolded one of her t-shirts for her, “you know we’re only going for two nights right? Your whole closet is here.” 

“I like options,” she shrugged, “should I bring earplugs or are our rooms far apart?”

I rolled my eyes, “I don’t know about the house layout but it’s pretty big… the headboard rattling will probably echo.” 

“Ew!” She threw a pillow at me and I snorted. 

“What?” I teased and went to her, “we know everything about each other, can’t handle hearing my-” 

“Shut up!” She cackled when I climbed on her and pinched her sides.

“It’s perfectly natural, Sharon - don’t know why you’re so shy at the thought of Johnny and I  _ making love, _ ” she tried and failed to get out of my pin.

“You know I hate the term ‘making love,’” she huffed, breathless.

“Fucking? Banging? Smashin’ and bashin’? All hot and sweaty and-”

“You’re so gross,” she threw me off so I fell on my back on the bed and dropped all her weight on my belly, making me grunt. 

“Did you seriously just elbow drop me, Macho Man Randy Savage?” I scrambled up and tackled her again.

Her mom came in the room not long later to tell us dinner had arrived and found Sharon in a headlock, glasses gone and my ponytail long pulled out.

“I thought we left the wrestling in middle school?” She sighed, pizza box in hand.

We broke apart with breathless laughter and shook hands theatrically. I found my scrunchie on the ground and tied my hair back up loosely. 

“Almost had her, mom,” Sharon complained on her way out, poking me hard in the back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was mostly a fun one, I know not a lot technically "happened" but I hope you liked it anyway, lol. As usual, thanks for the lovely comments, they give me life. 
> 
> PS. Just so you all know, I wrote the bulk of the final chapter and the epilogue today and I felt straight-up emotional, can't believe I've only been writing this story for like two weeks. 
> 
> <3


	10. Cabin on the Lake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy your twofer! Since I'm uploading this so quickly after the last one, make sure you've definitely read that before this and apologies that I'm too impatient to leave gaps!

It became clear that part of Johnny’s motivation to take our little road trip may have been to finally get his Firebird out on the highway and really put his foot down. It was definitely fun, Sharon and I sat in the back together and put our arms in the air, whooping like we were on a rollercoaster, hair whipped around our faces by the wind. I, of course, had to eventually tell him to cool it before he ended up getting arrested and he relented after his second try at pushing 100. 

Getting out of the city felt way better than I’d thought; mom and I rarely took trips and I hadn’t realised how sick I was of the LA suburbs. In the front, Johnny and Jesse got to arguing about something sports-related that I had no idea about while Sharon and I danced in the back, listening to Springsteen and practically screaming out the lyrics since no one could really hear us against the wind. At one point, a truck pulled up next to us and we got it to honk, delighted about it as if we were little kids. It occurred to me as something I could happily do all the time, drive down a long road and listen to music in Johnny's car. 

We pulled into the drive-through at one point and got food and then were barely on the road for half an hour before I needed to pee, which probably had a lot to do with the huge Coke that I had drunk. 

“God, what’s with girls and needing to pee all the time?” Johnny complained when he finally listened to my whining and pulled into a gas station. 

“I apologise for having a tiny bladder, but since you complained about it I’m not getting you a peanut butter cup,” I didn’t bother opening the door, I just stood on his seat and climbed over it to make him crazy. 

“Come on!” He complained as Sharon and I went into the gas station. I turned back to smirk and give him the middle finger, Jesse laughing at him. 

“God, they’re cute,” Sharon whispered to me as she glanced back at them. She was right, even though they were kind of opposites, Johnny with his bright blonde hair and Jesse all dark curls and thick brows. They dressed totally different too, you would never catch Johnny in one of the big oversized military jackets Jesse wore, and I knew Jesse used to think Johnny dressed like a total rich boy at school. 

“I guess,” I brushed off with a smirk when Johnny noticed me looking at him and winked. 

We peed and took our time meandering through the station, collecting up snacks for the road and looking over the keychains, trucker hats and sunglasses.

“I think we’re gonna go all the way this weekend,” Sharon said, trying on a cap that said ‘I  _ Heart _ Beer’ on it. 

“I can’t believe you haven’t already,” I said, cocking my head, “that hat looks beautiful on you.” 

“Well, I’m nervous, it’s my first time,” she set it back down and sighed.

“Just try to relax, don’t overthink it,” I told her. 

“How? What if it hurts really bad?”

“If it hurts tell him to stop, just make sure you’re good and - excited - before it starts, make out a lot…” I tried to give her some decent advice, “Tell him exactly what you want and don’t be shy about it. It’s not all about him.”

“You tell Johnny exactly what you want?” She raised her eyebrow. 

“Of course,” I shrugged, looking at her in the tiny mirror. 

“And he listens?”

“He’s very receptive to instruction,” I grinned and tried on some red, heart-shaped sunglasses.

Sharon giggled and shook her head. I didn’t want her to think I was just joking around when she was clearly nervous. 

“I’m just saying, it’s supposed to be fun, okay? So try to have fun and if you get there and you don’t want to do it anymore, don’t do it. Jesse’s not the type of guy to be a dick about that…” I closed up the sunglasses because I definitely wanted to buy them and Johnny  _ had _ said I could get whatever I wanted in his card.

“And if he  _ is _ a dick about it, I’m in the next room, so you can tell me and I can drown him in the fuckin’ lake.”

We approached the cashier who gave me an odd look, only hearing that part of our conversation, as I laid our items down on the desk. 

“And a Playgirl, please,” I grinned, just to make Sharon go red, “kidding.”

Back at the car, I threw Johnny his peanut butter cup and he caught it, thanking me with a kiss before I got back in next to him, trading places with Jesse. 

“I knew you wouldn’t hold it against me,” he said, putting the whole thing in his mouth. 

“You know you’re too pretty to stay mad at,” I put on my new sunglasses and pouted, putting a hand under my chin in a pose, “what do you think?”

“Sexy,” he said, dropping his wrapper out of the car on the floor before I could protest, “you look like that chick from that movie.”

The drive to the cabin didn’t take too long after that, and it was just as big and pretty as we’d thought. The decoration was a little old fashioned, sure, all dark wood and mounted deer heads, but it was airy and spacious and the view of the lake was insanely nice, the sunset just sparkling over the surface like a painted pastoral scene. It was maybe the second nicest place I’d stayed in, after Johnny’s actual house. 

“Oh my god, it’s so pretty,” Sharon said, kneeling on the window seat to look outside. 

“Yeah, wish I had a rich stepdad,” Jesse said, already sitting crossed-legged on the carpet in front of the fire and packing the bong. Neither he or Sharon knew much about Johnny’s home life, it was one of the few things I didn’t tell her, unwilling to break Johnny’s trust like that. 

“You can have mine, if you want,” Johnny toed off his shoes in the middle of the hallway, (of course) and cracked open a beer on the fancy side table. 

“Yeah? I’ll take you up on that man,  _ I  _ want a fuckin’ Firebird,” he took a big hit and handed it off to Johnny when he sat down next to him. 

I kicked Johnny’s shoes out of the way so no one would trip on them and sat on the comfortable looking green velvet ottoman near the fire, taking the bong when Johnny handed it to me, coughing.

“Oh shit that’s strong, where do you get this, Sharon?” He asked her as she looked through the big shelves filled with books and boxed board games.

She laughed, “My brother knows someone at college who gives him crazy discounts for writing his chemistry papers… Ooh, let’s play Monopoly!”   


I took a big lungful and held it for a moment, eyes watering; Jesse and Johnny groaned at the idea of the game.

“I wanna play,” I said, throat fried, “shit, three or four hits on that anything’s gonna be fun.” 

They relented and we lay out the board and played. I was totally right, as we got higher and drunker, the game got way more hilarious, even though the boys were pretty ruthless about it. Johnny took way too much pleasure in taking my fake money when I landed on one of his many hotels, and it looked like he was going to win for sure.

“You suck at this,” he laughed, necking the rest of his beer.

“Shut up,” I complained from where I was lying on my stomach on the floor, as if getting my face closer to the board would make me better at it, “Sharon, I’m your best friend, you can’t lend me a hundred?”

She giggled, cheeks red from alcohol and leaning against Jesse’s side.

“I don’t know why you’re asking the only person in this room who’s never been in love with you,” she joked, and I was definitely sober enough to feel my stomach drop. She must’ve caught my look because she covered her mouth with her hand, “oops…”

“Is that right?” Johnny still looked vaguely amused, though it was slipping as he looked over at Jesse. 

“‘In love’ is very strong…” Jesse played it off with a shrug, sipping his beer.

“Yeah, more like a very mild crush, very mild, like white rice,” Sharon said quickly, sensing a change in the vibe Johnny was giving off. 

“Yeah, she never gave me a shot,” Jesse said. 

“So, if she had you’d be together right now, yeah?” Johnny was still smiling a little, though I could see the genuine challenge in his eyes.

“No, man,” Jesse tapped his shoulder appeasingly, “didn’t mean that.” 

“Let’s talk about something else, shall we?” I said, feeling hurriedly sobered. 

“No, I wanna talk about this,” Johnny said to me, still acting like he was totally fine with the whole thing. 

“Johnny,” I said, in a warning tone, seeing this wasn’t heading anywhere good. He was giving off the aura he did when he was looking for a fight, that undercurrent of being genuinely annoyed but covering it up with a fake smile. 

“What was it you liked about her?” He asked him with a nudge on the arm and I rolled my eyes

“Johnny, come on, Jesus,” Sharon said, smoothing her hair off her face and looking like she wasn’t enjoying being drunk anymore.

“What? I just wanna know,” he shrugged at us like he wasn’t being a dick, “you like redheads too? Or was it her tits? ‘Cause that was definitely the first thing _I_ noticed.”

I stood up too fast and made my head swim, definitely sober enough to feel pissed off. 

“Asshole,” I snapped at him and marched off upstairs. Why did he have to goddamn ruin it? We were having a good time. I should’ve thrown the game board in the fire. 

I slammed the door of the bedroom we had claimed behind me and sat on the bed, wishing I weren’t so swimmy-headed. Johnny came in not long after me and closed the door behind him. 

“What the fuck?” I said to him immediately. 

“ _ Me _ what the fuck? You invite a guy that used to be into you?” He protested.

“ _ Used to _ . He’s been dating my best friend for months, he’s obviously not interested in me anymore.” 

“Doesn’t matter,” Johnny crossed his arms, “guys look at you, Jenna, I looked at you, and I wasn’t just thinking about taking you out on a date and all that other cute shit, alright? I wouldn’t have brought some chick that was into me.”

My words caught in my throat and I closed my mouth; he had a point, really, because I wouldn’t have liked that either. Shit, I hated being wrong. I mean, partially wrong, he still acted like a prick about it. 

“You should’ve told me,” he said. I sighed and looked up at him, crossing my arms. 

“You’re right,” I admitted, words dragged out of me, “I should have. I’m sorry, I just didn’t think about it. It seriously was a long time ago and he’s super into Sharon, but I should’ve mentioned it to you.” 

I saw Johnny soften and he chewed in the inside of his mouth before sitting beside me on the bed. 

“Alright, I don’t wanna fight,” he said and put an arm around my shoulders, squeezing me comfortingly. 

“Me neither,” I said and looked at him, “but you’ve got to talk to Sharon and Jesse, ‘cause you got aggressive and you embarrassed both of us.”

Johnny looked like he was thinking about arguing before accepting I was right too. 

“Alright, shit,” he said, “sorry, maybe I overreacted a little.” 

“You did,” I said, “luckily everyone’s super high so it probably didn’t hit as hard.”

Johnny looked at me for a second and leaned in to kiss me, but I put a hand on his jaw and pushed him away.

“Nope, you’re still an asshole, c’mon,” I took his hand and pulled him up from the bed so we could go to Jesse and Sharon’s room. I knocked softly before going in; they were both lying on the bed, still clothed, thank god. 

“Hey,” Sharon said and lifted her arm so I could sit down next to her, still feeling pretty stoned and soft in the limbs. 

“Sorry for being a dick,” Johnny sighed and held his hand out to Jesse, who shook it, “sorry for saying your boyfriend wanted to bang my girlfriend, Sharon.” 

“It’s fine, he probably did,” she snorted and I couldn’t help laughing too, despite myself, hiding my face in Sharon’s shoulder. Even Johnny broke eventually and flopped down on his back on the bed.

“Shit, I am way too drunk for this conversation,” he rubbed his face. 

“Think you’re exactly the right amount of drunk, since you’re not kicking my ass,” Jesse said, taking off Sharon’s glasses to put them on himself, squinting through them, unfazed as ever, “you guys wanna go back downstairs? We’re letting a great bong go to waste, here.”

* * *

It was almost noon the next day when we all crawled out of bed, hugely hungover and in a zombie-like state as we slumped around the kitchen downing coffees and trying to absorb the alcohol with peanut butter on toast. Jesse was in the best state of us, as if he were too zen for chemicals to have any lasting effect on him. 

When we eventually got dressed, Johnny and Jesse went to the waterside to fish after digging through Sid’s equipment in the garage and finding poles and dried bait; I was surprised it was something Johnny even knew how to do. Jesse was less of a surprise, his parents were full-on sandals and granola hippies and his dad was big into living off the land. I was pretty sure he could bow-hunt, but I was too hungover to know if I'd made that up in my own head. Sharon and I sat on the grassy embankment behind them watching, a blanket over our legs and sharing a thermos of tea. There was nothing either of us wanted to do less than have to pull a dead wet fish off a hook. 

I broke off a piece of the chocolate bar that we were sharing and handed it to Sharon, “So did you two…”

“No, pretty much passed out,” Sharon said, “noticed  _ you _ didn’t have that problem.”

“Sorry about that,” I said, not sorry at all. 

“Sure you are, squealer,” she rolled her eyes, “I think tonight, though. I really wanna do it... He’s just hot.”

“He is,” I said, letting the chocolate melt on my tongue, “great hair.”

“Beautiful hair,” she agreed, “super thick, I just want to touch it all the time.”

“Same, Johnny’s is softer than mine, even,” I said, thinking about the way it slipped through my fingers. 

“It looks soft,” she said and we looked over at them, cocking our heads in admiration for a moment. 

“So give me some tips, then,” she nudged my arm with her elbow.

“About?”

“Sex,” she whispered, “I’m still nervous as hell here.”

“I already told you what you need to know,” I said and poured out some tea for the both of us into the two little plastic cups. It was funny the things Sharon got shy about and the things that didn’t bother her at all. 

“But how do I know he’ll like it?”

“Dude, he’ll like it, trust me,” I said, “and the more you do it the more you’ll figure out all the little things you’re both into.”

“Like?”

I shrugged and sipped my tea, “Johnny likes me to be on top,” 

“Duh, ‘cause you have huge boobs to bounce around - mine are tiny,” she sulked and looked down at her chest, covered by her coat. 

“Cause  _ you’re _ tiny,” I pointed out, “I’m not letting you complain about being built like a supermodel and having perky little boobs you don’t even need a bra for.” 

She snorted, “What else does he like?”

“What happened to you being so grossed out about us having sex?” I pointed out, chuckling, “okay when he’s about to, you know, finish, he totally likes me to pull his hair.”

“Hard?” Sharon covered her mouth and giggled.

“A little hard,” I shrugged and we fell into girlish laughter, leaning against each other. 

“What’s funny?” Jesse called back to us, cupping a hand around his mouth. 

“Nothing!” Sharon assured him and we looked at each other and tried to stop laughing. 

The second evening went much smoother than the first. Jesse had brought a few videos of scary movies and we sat on the couch and watched them, passing the bong back and forth. Later, despite being a pacifist by nature, Jesse got Johnny to show him a few of his moves for the tournament, insisting he didn’t mind getting knocked on his ass. Jesse’s pacifism didn’t last long and he eventually ended up tackling Johnny around the waist until they were wrestling on the floor like little boys. 

“There’s still wine in the fridge, right?” Sharon said to me.

“Yep,” I said, and we left them to it.

None of us had the will to get as hammered as we had on the first night, so we went upstairs to bed only a little bit tipsy. Johnny didn’t have to have a drop of alcohol in him to grab my ass halfway up the stairs and toss me over his shoulder like a caveman, anyway.  I was giggling when he dumped me on the bed and started kissing my neck, my chest and my stomach over my clothes.

“I wanna try something,” he said, smirking up at me.

“Oh yeah?” I leaned up on my elbows to look down at him when he slowly peeled off my sweatpants and underwear together, making me flush all over, “okay…”

“This alright?” He asked, wetting his lips and tugging me to the end of the bed with my thighs.

“Uh-uh,” I said, practically vibrating with nerves. He’d seen that part of me plenty of times, sure, but never like  _ that _ , so close up and intimate. 

My reservations pretty quickly fell away when he got started though and figured out exactly what to do to make me gasp and quiver underneath him. It was ridiculous how naughty it felt to look down and see him there, bright blue eyes looking up at me, tongue working me until I couldn't look at him anymore and my eyes rolled back in my head.

I dug my fingers in his hair and shook when I finished, and he came back up looking more pleased with himself than if he  _ had _ won the All Valley. 

Leaving the next morning genuinely sucked, but we had school the next day and it was getting way too close to finals to skip. We were less excitable in the car on the way back, roof on, Jesse and Sharon fell asleep against each other in the backseat and Johnny let me drive when we were out on the highway for a little bit. 

“Your folks definitely still think you’re staying at my place, right?” I checked. I could tell why Johnny liked his Firebird so much, it felt really good to drive.

“Yeah and your mom said she’d cover for me if they called,” he leaned back his reclined seat, feet up on the dashboard.

“You’re totally not supposed to conspire with my mother behind my back,” I said, shaking my head at the thought. I knew why she would agree to it though, Johnny had let slip a little about Sid over Christmas and she did not have a good opinion of the guy.

“How do you think I picked the perfect necklace for you?” He smirked. I touched it where it was around my neck and frowned in surprise.

“She helped you?” I raised my eyebrow.

“I was already pretty sure you’d like the necklace but I was gonna get it in silver with a diamond on it, she told me you like the way gold looks way better and you hate diamonds,” Johnny opened a bag of skittles.

“Shit…” I said; that was all totally right, I couldn’t believe that was information she had taken in. Maybe she listened more than I gave her credit for. 

“You want one?” Johnny held up the bag and I opened my mouth for him to put one in. He took his time about it, leaving his thumb and finger just inside my lips until I bit him. 

“Ah!” He hissed and I laughed. 

“Jesus, I can’t believe it’s almost February,” I said.

“Don’t remind me, alright? Tournament is fucking with my head,” he grumbled. 

“I was thinking more about the fact that we’ve only got like four months left at school, then it’s the summer, then college,” I said and glanced over at him. He seemed reluctant to talk about it when I brought it up and I knew why - we wouldn’t be going to the same place for college, probably not even the same state.

“Eh, seven months is forever,” he shrugged, looking out of the window, “pull over, I gotta piss.” 

I sighed and pulled into a layby when it was safe, choosing not to point out to him what he already knew, that seven months definitely was  _ not _ forever. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: dinner and dancing at the country club with Sid and Laura, totally Jenna's cup of tea.


	11. Country Club Type

A group of us sat in a circle in the school hall at lunchtime, all girls, writing on a piece of construction paper ideas for the yearbook. Somehow, Sharon had got roped in by a girl in her class, which had led to me getting roped in as well. I really wasn’t much of an ‘activities’ person, but I could at least inflate the experience on my applications to make it seem like I’d been part of the yearbook committee. The girls were all nice as well, Sharon and I tended to hang around as a two, but we’d been to the movies with them a few times and were friendly in class.

“Obviously we have to leave spaces for prom pictures,” Diane was lying on her belly, writing in sparkly purple ink, “and we need a whole page for homecoming king and queen.” 

I snorted, holding one of her pens to my nose because it was supposed to smell like blueberries, “Lucky them.” I said sarcastically, thinking that sounded hugely embarrassing.

It took me a second to notice everyone was looking at me then.

“What?” I frowned; had I drawn on my face by accident?

“Well, it’s totally gonna be you,” Rachel nudged my arm. 

“What? Why?” I looked at Sharon as if she was going to save me but she looked as amused as the rest of them by my cluelessness. 

“You’re going with Johnny, right? Only the girls bother voting and they were always gonna vote for him,” Diane said, “so you’ll automatically be queen.” 

“Yeah, he’s dreamy,” Rachel said, leaning on one hand before glancing at me and clearly remembering we were dating, “you’re lucky, I mean.” She shrugged.

“That’s not fair, I don’t want it,” I protested, “what if I wear a really ugly dress?”

“Won’t matter,” Diane laughed, “you and Johnny are both super pretty and you’re the couple everyone’s been talking about this year. It’s definitely going to be you two.” 

“I can’t wait to see you on stage in your crown,” Sharon teased me, and they all laughed when I covered my face with my hands at the thought of getting up on stage in front of everyone and having a big plastic crown put on my head.

“Jesus,” I leaned back on my hands and decided then I would definitely talk to him about ducking out of the party before that happened, “Sharon, can’t you just be my date?”

“And who will Jesse go with?” She asked, doodling on the corner of the paper.

“Johnny, obviously, then people really will be talking,” I said and the girls broke into giggles. 

The door of the hall opened and a small group of boys came in carrying stacked chairs for the assembly later. I raised my hand and waved at Tommy and Bobby when I saw them and they nodded back to me. 

"You know Bobby?" Diane asked me, in a way like she was covering her interest by acting casual. 

"Yeah, he's Johnny's friend," I said, putting the cap on my pen, interested, "why?" 

"No reason," Diane shrugged.

"She totally thinks he's cute," Rachel said and nudged my arm. Diane threw her pen at her friend, "it's true!"

Diane sighed, looking embarrassed, "Okay, I do," she admitted, "does he have a date for prom?" 

"I don't think so," I said, looking over at the two of them, "you want me to ask him about you?"

"No," she said like I was crazy, "definitely not."

"Come on, he's actually pretty nice," Sharon said, "Jenna can be subtle."

"I can," I assured her. 

"Alright, fine, but if he thinks I'm ugly you have to tell me, okay? Don't sugarcoat it," she rested her blushing face on her hand and drew on the paper. 

"I've got you," I said, amused, and stood up to go to where Tommy and Bobby were setting up the chairs, "hey."

"Hey, Jenna, what's up?" Bobby said. 

I glanced back at the girls, "Hey Bobby, don't make it obvious you're looking, but do you know Diane Turner?" Tommy glanced over my shoulder too, rubbing his nose to cover it. 

"Yeah, she's in my math," he said, "why?"

"She thinks you're hot," I said, noticing him smirk a little, "if you're not into her I'll be nice about it and you can just pretend I never said anything."

"No, no, she's hot," Bobby put his hands in his pockets and stepped a bit closer to me, "she's into me?" 

"Yep," I said, "you should catch her alone and ask her to prom, she'll definitely say yes."

"Shit," Bobby flicked his hair out of his eye, looking pleased with himself, "thanks, Jenna, I definitely will." 

"Jesus Christ," Tommy complained at being left out, leaning on Bobby's shoulder, "you got any other friends that are looking for dates?"

"I'll ask around," I chuckled and went back to the group, returning to my spot on the floor while the girls all pretended they weren't looking.

"So?" Sharon hissed.

"Get ready for a very interesting math class," I shrugged and we all fell into girlish laughter again. 

We packed up when the bell rang having gotten very little work done but with plans to all go see The Breakfast Club at the weekend. On my way to class, a girl walking ahead of me didn’t notice when she dropped a piece of paper out of her bag that looked like important notes when I picked them up. It was only when I got close to her that I noticed it was Ali and a vindictive part of me considered stuffing them in the trash instead.

“Hey,” I said, putting a hand on her arm to get her attention, “chemistry notes.” 

She looked at me and down at the paper in my hand with undisguised surprise before taking them and putting them in her pocket.

“Thanks,” she said with a nod, I just nodded back and kept walking. Not exactly a truce, but a lot nicer to her than my instinct told me to be. 

The day was capped off with English class, so of course, I had to do my weekly scramble over Johnny’s long legs while he refused to be actually helpful. It was definitely just so he had a ready excuse for putting his hand on my hips at school in the pretence of guiding me over when it would have been a lot easier for him to just stand up. 

“Doesn’t it get annoying having to switch pens all the time?” He rolled his shirt sleeves up to his elbows before leaning on the desk, looking down at my colour-coded notes.

“I told you it helps things stick in your head,” I said, “or were you listening to a word I said when I was tutoring you?” 

“Your mouth is too pretty for me to remember _everything_ that comes out of it, babe,” he smirked, going in his bag for his own notebook.

“But I bet your memory for what goes in it is photographic, right?” I whispered, just to see him swallow deeply and give me a warning look before Mr Wilson walked in. 

Despite Johnny’s attempts at distracting me, English was still my best class by far and I had gotten pretty good at ignoring him and focussing on my work. We were covering Of Mice and Men that day and as much as I didn’t like him, I was always a little proud of myself when I’d give an answer that made Mr Wilson look genuinely impressed. Johnny would pay attention to me too when I raised my hand and tell me later he found it hot when I ‘talked smart.’ I pointed out that while that was nice, knowing him, he would probably find it hot if I sneezed. 

At home that evening, my mood dipped a little when I went into the house to find it a complete mess, covered in the debris left behind when my mom was getting ready to go out. 

“I just don’t understand why it’s so hard to turn off a fucking curling iron!” I slammed the thing on the kitchen counter after irately ripping it from the wall in the bathroom. 

“Don’t curse at me,” she protested, “I just forgot.”

“Yeah, like every other day, you’re going to burn our goddamn house down you know? Or melt through the bath and lose the deposit when we move, as usual,” I went to my room to get my handbag, huffing. 

“Hey, I don’t know why you’re so aggravated right now but it’s not cute, you’re going to get wrinkles when you’re my age you know?” She said, unbothered as usual as she painted her toes on the couch. 

“I’m aggravated ‘cause I’m not gonna be here to do all this shit for you in a few months - you _have_ remembered I’m going to college, right?”

“Of course I remembered,” she rolled her eyes, “I’m fully capable of looking after myself, thank you.” 

“Sure,” I said and picked up the high heels that were in the doorway of her room as if she were trying to trip herself, making a point of holding them up for her before chucking them in her room. 

“Uhh… You ready to go?” Johnny asked from where he was standing awkwardly by the front door, hands in his pockets. 

“Yeah, have fun with that, Johnny,” my mom said and I gave her a scowl before leaving with him. 

It wasn’t an intense fight, pretty much the same one we had most weeks when the piles of mess everywhere got too annoying for me after I had cleaned them up the day before. I had honestly been worrying about it lately too, as school got more intense and college was running up on us. We hadn’t been apart since I was born, and she was only 19, then. What would she do when I wasn’t there to take care of her? At least Daryl didn’t seem to be going anywhere just yet, but that was way too short a relationship for me to bank on. 

Johnny and I didn’t really have plans that day, just killing time, walking the car lot. I still didn’t have nearly enough money to buy one, but I could probably get a job over the summer, maybe get myself a cheap lemon to run me to the mall and back. 

A VW T3 caught my eye, second hand but with shiny blue paintwork and groovy, flowery upholstery inside like the previous owners had been hippies. I stood on my tiptoes to look through the windows and saw that the back had been gutted to put in a little camping stove and a countertop, the floor laid with fake-wood linoleum. It was _very_ cute. 

“That’s what we’ll run away in,” I said, smiling. 

“Yeah, think we can get a double mattress in the back?” He said, not needing to stand on his tiptoes to look easily in the window.

“Of course, we can make beautiful blonde babies and walk around barefoot and shit.” I said, taking his hand and walking on, looking over the prices in the car windows instead, “ooh, we could follow Grateful Dead on tour. I think you’d look good in tie-dye.” Johnny looked back at the van and I wondered if he found it as nice a thought as I did, silly as it was. Maybe the trip the other day had put him in the mood for driving off at full speed as well. 

“You got your dress for tonight?” He asked, reminding me of the country club event I desperately did not want to go to

“Yep, Goodwill chic. It’s pretty though,” I assured him. It _was_ pretty, black velvet and long-sleeved. I was sure my mom would let me borrow some earrings and a pair of heels, and of course, I had my moon pendant necklace, “I’m nervous.”  
  
“Why?” He squeezed my hand.  
  
“I’ve never been to a country club,” I said, “definitely not a country club _dance_.”

“It’s just old rich people, who cares?” He shrugged, “we’ll have our meal and get the hell out of there, promise.” 

“Okay,” I said. It wasn’t like I was going to make him go alone and have to sit with his mom and Sid all night. 

After killing time going to the movies and eating, Johnny dropped me off at home to change. I was still nervous about it, being around Sid wasn’t my favourite pastime and I tended to feel out of place around the kind of well-to-do people who would be members of a country club. Like Sid had, I was paranoid that I was going to get spotted immediately, outed as not one of them. They’d smell I didn’t have a trust fund and chase me out to the street. 

At least I looked good when I got ready; I curled my hair and pinned it up on the top of my head, letting a few tendrils fall around my face and put on a pair of my mom’s clip-on earrings that looked pretty real. My dress hugged me nicely, neckline flat and showing just a little of my collarbone. Mom came in when I stepped into the heels and adjusted my tights around the knee.

“You look so pretty,” she said earnestly, the fight from earlier forgotten by us both. 

“Thank you,” I said and let her spin me with a little chuckle, “Daryl’s gonna give you a ride, right? Mind if I come along for the fresh air?”

“Of course,” I said and unhooked my bag from my bedroom door handle. She left the room to put on her oversized sweater and some sneakers, bottle of perfume in hand, “here, use some of this.”

“Mom, this is your Chanel, I can’t,” I protested. The perfume was the real thing and smelled gorgeous, but it was so expensive that she barely used it. 

“Yes you can,” she took my hand and spritzed some on my wrist, “this baby has lasted me five years, a little bit won’t hurt.”

As soon as we were in the truck Daryl started blasting Van Halen. I didn’t mind, but I was pretty sure the country club people would. I liked the guy, especially compared to some of the other men my mom had dated, but his truck was a mess, I had to kick trash aside to be able to put my feet down in the footwell. Not like I was going to say something snotty to the person doing me a favour, though. 

“Who smells so good?” He asked and my mom winked at me in the rearview mirror. 

The club parking lot was busy when we pulled in and I was sure the beat-up old Chevrolet truck we were in must have looked out of place among all the other fancy cars. I looked out of the window and spotted Johnny, standing next to a beige Cadillac while his mom tightened the knot on Johnny’s tie and Sid waited impatiently. 

“Hey, pull in there,” I said, pointing them out. 

“Yes, m’lady,” Daryl pulled into the spot beside them, turning down his radio a little.

“I’ll say hi,” mom said and we both got out.

“Hey,” Johnny said when he noticed me, beaming, “you look great.”

“Thank you,” I smoothed out the skirt of my dress, aware of Sid eyeing my mom who was standing next to me, “so do you.” He really did, in his herringbone suit and his thin black tie, hair neat and brushed like it never was when we went out, headband left at home, for once. 

“You really do, honey,” Mrs Lawrence kissed my cheek, “is this your mom?”

“Hi, Stephanie Parker, you can call me Steph,” she shook her hand, bangles rattling, then shook Sid’s.

“I’m Laura, this is Sid,” Mrs Lawrence said, “it’s so silly that we’re only just meeting, these two are together all the time.” 

“I know, you’ll have to come over for dinner sometime,” my mom said, “I mean, I can’t cook for shit but I can order Chinese food like a pro.” 

Mrs Lawrence chuckled and I did too, though I was aware that Sid didn’t. 

“Are you a member of this club?” He asked her, clearly looking her up and down and taking in her pyjama bottoms and oversized sweatshirt. It immediately pissed me off, because of course she wasn’t, it was obvious she was just dropping me off. 

“Oh, god no,” she said and made a disgusted face; I felt a surge of affection for her at how unbothered she was by his judgement, “no I’m just dropping off little Michelle Pfeiffer.” She bumped me with her hip and winked, “well, Daryl is.”

“Is he your husband?” Mrs Lawrence asked politely, as Daryl got out to light a cigarette. 

“Nah, boyfriend,” she said and Daryl tipped his trucker hat to them. Sid looked even less impressed with him than he did my mom, “okay, I’ll leave you to it, have a good time. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” 

She squeezed my arm and got back in the truck, and I was glad. Not that I was embarrassed at all, I just hated the judgement I could feel rolling off Sid towards her. I was sure Mrs Lawrence had her own thoughts as well, although she was polite enough not to let any negativity show on her face.

Inside, we found our table and I was glad to find they were letting Johnny and I have a glass of champagne each, at least that was something to calm my discomfort. Everyone just felt, looked and talked rich and I didn’t have anything to say to them, since all they seemed to want to talk about was Reagan. Johnny looked good in a suit, at least I could appreciate my first time seeing him look so put together. 

When he asked me to dance, I knew it was more so we could get away from the table where Sid was talking to one of the other men about politics, even if the stuffy old band weren’t exactly our thing. 

“Tell me dinner is coming soon,” I said quietly, taking his hand and swaying with him. 

“I think so,” he said, glancing towards the kitchen, “you want me to go in and tell them to hurry up?”

“Yes please,” I smirked and felt the material of his suit jacket under my arm, “you do look very handsome in this, by the way.”

“I can’t breathe in this goddamn collar,” he said, tugging at it, “no wonder these guys are so pissed off all the time. It’s ‘cause they were suits all day.”

“Why are the women so stuck up, then?” I looked up at him.

Johnny glanced around, “Come on, you think their husbands have ever managed to make ‘em come?”

I scoffed and covered my mouth with my hand, trying not to laugh too loud and draw attention. We kept dancing, relaxing a little; at least we could always enjoy each other’s company. 

“You smell great,” he told me, leaning down a little bit. I smiled and mentally thanked my mother. 

Relaxation didn’t last for long though, because I glanced over his shoulder and saw Ali there, clearly dancing with her dad, and she noticed me as well. Her dress was pretty and white and she wore a pink knitted shawl over her shoulders and two barrettes in her hair. I wish my stomach didn’t turn over when I remembered I was wearing a second-hand dress while hers looked brand new. 

“What’s up?” Johnny asked, noticing my change in expression. 

“Nothing,” I lied, but he glanced over at where I was looking anyway and saw her. I felt another jealous twinge at the thought he was noticing how pretty she looked. 

“Yeah, forgot her dad goes here,” he said and looked over my face, which I struggled to fix into looking unbothered, “I’m not gonna be asking her to dance, you know?”

His secure arm around me and the little smile on the corner of his mouth did a lot to allay that awful insecure feeling that I felt and hated. 

“You better not,” I smiled a little bit, “this is too fancy a place to cause a scene.”

“Yeah, might liven the party up a little though if you get in a catfight,” he said, amused, and I pinched his arm. 

Dinner was served soon after and we went back to the table to eat. The food was good, I couldn’t deny that fact, and it at least distracted me from how much my shoes were starting to rub my heels as the night went on. 

“So how long have your mother and - was it Daryl? - been seeing each other?” Mrs Lawrence asked me and sipped her champagne.

“Yeah it’s Daryl, and not long,” I said, “I like him though, he’s a nice guy.”

“What does he do?” Sid asked and I was aware that the other people around the table who I didn’t know were also listening.

“Construction,” I said, not entirely knowing for sure enough to be any more detailed than that, “he works nights a lot.”

Sid and the man beside him exchanged an amused look that immediately made anger shoot hot up my neck. 

“And your mother is a waitress?” The man next to him who I didn’t know asked me. Had they been talking about me for some reason? 

“Yep,” I said and bit of a big piece of bread like the carbs would save me.

“How on earth do you survive?” He asked, somewhere between amused and sympathetic in a way that made me feel more condescended to than I ever had in my life. 

I swallowed my bread, patience already very diminished, “Welfare, mostly, thank god for Democrats, right?”

It was a joke they definitely did not find funny, but if they were going to be snotty to me I was going to be snotty right back. At least it made Johnny snort next to me, arm draped on the back of my chair. 

“We’re going to have a word…” I heard Sid say quietly to his friend, not understanding what they were talking about.

“What about?” Johnny asked, clearly having noticed and in no mood to let it go, either. 

They looked at each other for a long moment, challenge written all over both their expressions. Every time there was a tense silence like that between them I wondered if it would be the time that Johnny’s temper finally broke enough for him to knock his stepdad out. 

“Alright, boy, since you feel like talking plainly,” Sid sat back in his chair a little and took another sip of whiskey, “we’re going to have a word about the kind of person it’s acceptable for you to bring out in public.” 

My stomach, of course, completely dropped and I felt my face glow red. At first, my instinct was to get up and run for the door, but I stayed frozen in my seat, not even able to speak. I put my fork down, worried the food I had just eaten was going to come right back up, feeling all eyes at the table, familiar and not, on me.

“What?” Johnny snapped, looking from him to his mom.

“Sid,” Mrs Lawrence hissed, looking angry herself for once. I wondered if he was drunk, he looked it, his eyes were a bit hazy. 

“You might not have been born into proper society but you’re in it now. You can date someone in high school that’s beneath you but that changes when you get to college,” he pointed at him; I definitely thought I might be sick, “there’s no pretending now we’ve met the mother.” 

“Her mother was perfectly nice,” Mrs Lawrence said, looking humiliated and like she might cry herself.

“She was trash,” Sid said immediately and I stood up then, emotion flooding me and putting a tremble in my fingers. I thought for a moment I might throw my plate in his face, but I held back. 

“My mom isn’t trash and neither am I,” I wouldn’t cry, I pushed that instinct way down because I was determined I wasn’t going to let him get away with saying that to me. Mrs Lawrence looked like she felt so sorry for me and it honestly made me feel worse.

“She can’t buy me a car or the best clothes and we live in a small house, yeah, but she’s raised me by herself since she was 19 with no help from anyone. I’m going to college and I’m a kind person and I would _never_ say something so shitty to someone like you just said to me and like you say to Johnny, your _son_ , every single day,” my voice started to wobble, humiliation burned me, “my mom has done a good job, and she’s a good person, and you’re a sad old bastard.”

I threw my napkin down on the floor and stormed through the party, nudging my way through everyone. It was definitely the most embarrassed I’d ever been, no contest, but it was the angriest I’d ever been as well. He’d actually used the word ‘beneath’ I was _‘beneath’_ Johnny. I _should’ve_ thrown my food in his face. 

On the street I took off my heels and carried them in my hand, tears breaking then, nose stinging. Everything I’d thought I’d just been paranoid about had come to the front; they had been looking at me like I was trash because I was poor, they did think Johnny would drop me as soon as someone better suited came along. Anything good about me didn't matter; it didn't matter how smart I was or if I was nice to people, I was poor and got dropped off to parties in my mom's boyfriend's rusty old truck, and that made me not good enough. Well, screw them. 

“Jenna!” I should’ve expected Johnny to follow me; he caught up to me easily and put a hand on my shoulder to make me stop. 

“Johnny, you didn’t have to follow me, I’m sorry,” I shook my head and wiped away the tears that were falling to my chin, “shit, I’ve gotten you in so much trouble…”

“I don’t care, Jenna, _fuck him_ , alright? I’m so sorry he said that to you,” he puts his hands on both my shoulders and made me look at him, “he’s lucky I didn’t finally punch him.”

“I’m glad you didn’t,” I sniffed, “God, what a fuck up.”  
  
“ _He_ fucked it up, not you,” Johnny put his arms around me very tightly, like I was about to run off, and I could feel the emotion coming off him, “you know you’re too good for me, right? Not the other way around. Tell me you know that.”  
  
“Johnny, don’t say that, I-”  
  
“I love you,” he pulled back to look at me in the eye and put his hands on my face, “I really love you - I can’t have - I don’t want _him_ to make you hate me, Jenna, I can’t take that-” Johnny shook his head, and I noticed his eyes were a bit red like he was trying not to cry too, “shit…”

“Johnny,” I covered his hands with mine and swallowed the lump in my throat. It was almost too much, having that happen and then hearing him tell me that for the first time, “I love you too, alright? I love you, I could never hate you.” 

He kissed me deep and his breath shook a little when he pulled me against his chest. The kiss tasted like salt from my own tears, but he didn’t seem to mind. 

“Shit, I thought you were going to be done with me,” he said, sounding younger and more scared than I’d ever heard.

“Same here,” I said and inhaled the smell of his shirt and enjoyed the warmth of him, putting my hand up the back of his suit jacket and onto his shirt, not really feeling the cold. We stood there on the sidewalk for a while, probably looking very strange. I didn't mind looking strange, he loved me, his words had confirmed it but I could feel it coming off him even without that. Of course I loved him back, he had made it completely impossible not to with everything about him that was so easy to love. 

“Can I stay at your place? I really don’t wanna go home tonight,” he said, nose pressing into the top of my head.

“Always,” I said, and we stood there for a little longer before walking home from the country club, him carrying my shoes for me and picking me up over any jagged asphalt when we had to cross the road. 

Mom and Daryl were both asleep on the couch when we arrived back and I smiled sadly to myself, even though she didn’t know what had been said about her, it hurt me, and it made me feel guilty for every time _I’d_ been disappointed with how little we had. I had a roof over my head, food in my stomach, she wasn’t even 40 yet for god’s sake and she’d had to raise a whole person. I touched her arm gently on my way past and left her earrings on the kitchen counter.

We went to my room as usual and fell onto the bed on our backs, quiet for a while as the events of the night sunk in. 

“What’re you going to do now?” I asked. 

“The school year’s almost over, just gonna avoid him as best I can until college,” he shrugged, “you know it’s… it’s my mom that gets to me. She doesn’t say anything, she just lets him sit there and say all this awful shit. I mean, she really likes you, I know she doesn’t agree with him.” 

I kept quiet and let him vent, lying beside him on the bed.

“I mean, it’s always been that way, since they got married. It’s like she’ll choose him over me every time,” he said, “I wouldn’t pick someone over _my_ kid.” 

“Maybe it’s just that she thinks if she goes against him, she might lose it all, for both of you, and you’ll have to go back to struggling,” I took his hand and held it, “she cares about you a lot. I just think she’s scared.” 

Johnny sighed and stroked his thumb over the back of my hand. We stayed laying in the dark quietly for a little while, hand-in-hand. 

“I wasn’t just saying it so you wouldn’t run off, by the way,” he turned to me, there was just about enough light coming from the street through the window for me to see him, “I’m pretty sure I’ve loved you since before our first date, but I thought it would be weird to say.” 

The urge to cry came back, for a good reason that time, and it came out like a little laugh through my nose. 

“Really?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he sounded bashful, “when we were reading the play and you did Beatrice’s accent, you started laughing and your nose, like, wrinkled up… I thought ‘oh shit’ and my chest felt tight. Happened every time we hung out after that.” 

My heart raced and I felt overwhelmed with emotion at that confession. 

“Since we’re being all sappy,” I said when I found my voice, “shall I tell you when I realised I was in love with you?”

“Yeah,” I heard him smiling.

“First time we had sex,” I admitted with a little laugh, “you just looked so ridiculously gorgeous and perfect and I couldn’t really believe you were actually my boyfriend... And I was also like ‘oh shit.’”

Johnny tugged me on top of him and smoothed his hands over my back.

“Maybe you just _thought_ you were in love with me ‘cause you’d never seen such a big dick,” he said and I shook my head at him.

“Uh-huh, maybe that was it,” I said, messing with his tie. We kissed and eased into each other, content to let the unpleasantness of the night fall away for a few hours, because we were together and we loved each other. Loved each other so intensely and completely that I almost couldn't believe I could _feel_ that hard.

Soon, we stripped off our uncomfortable clothes and settled into bed. It was only around an hour after Johnny fell asleep that a less pleasant thought occurred to me, one that kept bothering me a lot at night. College. We were only a few months away from it, and we still hadn’t talked about the fact that we hadn’t applied to the same schools. I listened to him snoring and looked over at the outline of his profile in the dark, and wondered how easy it would be for him to love me when we were a thousand miles apart and he couldn’t see that wrinkle in my nose when I laughed. 


	12. Day in the Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One last slice of fun before the All Valley Tournament! Dun dun dunnn.

As February passed, I spent a lot more time being Sharon and Jesse’s third wheel than I liked to, since Johnny was either in the dojo training or in the gym working out. I wasn’t going to complain about it, partly because the tournament meant a lot to him and partly because his body was looking _amazingly_ cut, but I did miss hanging out as much as we had before, which meant pretty much every day. Being with Sharon and Jesse was fun, obviously, and I liked to hold Sharon’s hand when Jesse held hers, just so people would look at us funny. 

That Saturday, Johnny promised me he was all mine after practice. I turned up with a huge to-go cup of Sprite from the 7-Eleven that I knew for a fact he would pop the lid off and basically down in one when he got out. I waited until most of the boys had streamed out and gone down the street before crossing the road to the dojo to wait for him. Dutch and I caught eyes for a second and I wished he would come over to me while I had something cold in my hand to throw in his face. 

“That was sloppy today Lawrence, and you know it,” I recognised Kreese’s voice as I approached the door, thinking for a moment they were inside until I realised it was actually coming from the alley next to the building. Frowning, I approached and saw Johnny there with Kreese’s fist bunched in the front of his shirt, pointing a finger in his face. Immediately, I ducked back around the corner, not wanting to interfere. 

“Yes, Sensei,” I heard Johnny say. 

“If you make one mistake at that tournament, you’ll be embarrassing my dojo as much as yourself, and that is not acceptable, is it?”

“No, Sensei,” I swore I could hear a little fear in Johnny’s voice and resisted the urge to tell him to get out of his face like I wanted to. Johnny would be embarrassed to know I’d even seen that happening, never mind stepping in and telling his sensei off. 

“That’s right. Now I want you here first thing tomorrow for practice,” I heard Kreese say, and I half-jogged further up the street to look in the window of the dojo and pretend I hadn’t heard anything. In my peripheral vision, I saw Johnny notice me when he came out of the alley, straightening his jacket up, and I smiled like I was just seeing him for the first time.

“Hey - you alright?” I tried to ask casually. 

“Yeah,” he shrugged it off, sniffing hard, “is that for me?” I nodded and handed him the big cup. He did pop off the lid so he could take a decent drink, still a little sweaty around the hairline from practice, crunching the ice when he got to it. Worry turned over in my stomach; I knew Kreese was tough, Johnny had never made any secret about that, but that seemed too far to me. I was sure his mom didn’t know that Johnny got talked to like that. 

“How was practice?” I asked when he dumped the cup in a trashcan and took my hand.

“Not bad, could be better,” he said; I could tell he didn’t really want to talk about it and pursed my lips. Anything less than perfect was never alright with Johnny when it came to Cobra Kai, and I could see where that was coming from. 

Luckily, we were already doing our preferred bad-day activity. We went to the movies for the first time in what felt like forever and sat in our usual spot in the back. The place was almost completely empty, apparently, Mad Max wasn’t really calling to anyone but us and the guy sitting in the front row. It was only after he finished his Red Vines that Johnny put his arm over my shoulders and leaned over to kiss over my cheek and my jaw; that was usually how I could tell he wasn’t really into a movie.

“You’re missing the Thunderdome fight,” I whispered, shivering a little when I felt the edges of his teeth on my neck. 

“This is more interesting,” he put a hand on my thigh and used the other to turn my head and kiss me, tongue immediately finding mine, “sit in my lap”. 

“There’s someone in here,” I pointed out. 

“He’s watching the movie…” Johnny squeezed my thigh, “come on, I’ve missed you.” 

I rolled my eyes at him trying to be cute but got up and sat in his lap anyway. Johnny tugged me close to him and kissed me again, hand on my ass and the other slipping up the front of my t-shirt as if we were alone in my room. I didn’t care to protest that someone might see us, I missed him too, I liked having his hands on my skin even if they were a little cold at first. I ran my fingers through the back of his hair and bit his bottom lip to make him make a little groaning sound against my mouth. 

“You’re loud,” I whispered and kissed up his cheek to his ear. 

“Not my fault,” he whispered back, and I could feel his smile when his mouth found mine again and he put his hand over the cup of my bra and squeezed. When I shuffled on his lap, I felt him hard and pressing against me and pulled back to look at him in the dark. 

“You’re gonna have to stand up soon, you know?” I pointed out. 

“Not if you help me out before the movie’s over, baby,” he smirked. He was so cocky that it would almost be worth it to say no to him and leave him frustrated. Almost. 

A handjob in the back of a movie theatre was definitely pretty cliche, but I did it anyway. It was kind of exciting to watch him try to bite back all the sounds he wanted to make and to see his face get all pink in the glow of the movie screen. I kept glancing at the guy in the front row to make sure he wasn’t going to get up to go get snacks or something. Thankfully, he was more interested in the movie than we were. When Johnny came over my hand and a little bit on his own jeans, he bit his fist and squeezed his eyes shut, shoes trying to find purchase on the ground and thrusting up a little. 

I giggled when he got his breath back and looked over at me, and looked at my hand, aware I now had a mess to clean up.

“Just lick it up,” he panted, fastening up his fly. 

“ _You_ lick it,” I scoffed and thankfully found a couple of napkins on the seat beside me to clean it off, his jeans too, as best I could with spit. 

When the lights came up he didn’t look too guilty, thankfully, and followed me down the steps and out of the theatre with his hands on my shoulders. We separated outside in the mall so I could go to the bathroom and actually wash my hands. When I came out, I found him sitting on the edge of the fountain. Not alone. A pretty girl with dark hair and a very fitted purple sweater was sitting next to him, talking to him, giggling at something. 

I tried to stomp down my immediately annoyed reaction, straightening my bag on my shoulder as I approached, trying to seem cool. When she laughed and put her hand on his forearm I felt a little tug in my stomach, and the image of shoving her into the fountain flashed at the forefront of my mind.

Not fair, though, I supposed. She probably didn’t know he had a girlfriend, and it wasn’t really his fault he was hot. 

“Hey,” I said to Johnny when I got to them.

“Hey,” Johnny looked a bit uncomfortable like he didn’t know if I was annoyed at him.

“Hi,” she said to me, smiling tightly, crossing her arms like _I_ was the interloper, like she was waiting for _me_ to leave. 'Push her in the fountain, push her in the fountain,' pretty much echoed around my head, “do I know you?”

The way she pushed her perfectly shiny hair over her shoulder when she said it almost put me over the edge.

“Oh no, I’m with him. Do you mind getting up, actually? I was kind of sitting there,” I lied, smiling at her. Realisation obviously dawned on her that I was his girlfriend but she didn’t look happy about it, picking up her handbag and getting up, “bye.” I said, a little too pleased with myself when Johnny put his arm around my shoulders as she walked off. 

“Shit,” Johnny said, still looking a little concerned, “I swear she just sat down and started talking to me, babe.”

“I believe you,” I said and relaxed my posture into one that wasn’t so tense, “she was very pretty.” 

“Not as pretty as you,” he said, deliberately putting on those big eyes as he twirled some of my hair around his fingers.

“Uh-huh,” I said, amused but still with that little undercurrent of jealousy. It wasn’t like I honestly expected him just to tell her to fuck off. Johnny clearly took it as a challenge to lay it on even thicker. 

“Seriously, she didn’t have lips like this,” he cupped my jaw and ran his thumb over my bottom lip, “or beautiful green eyes always looking up at me...” 

“I get it,” I chuckled and batted his hand off me. 

“We should go back to the car,” he said, dropping his hand to my lap instead.

“Already? You don’t need anything from the mall?”

“Nah, I just wanna get you alone,” the side of his mouth twitched as he tried not to smile, “turns out I’m super into seeing you jealous. Kinda thought you might pull her hair or something.” 

“I was thinking about pushing her in the fountain, actually,” I admitted, keeping my voice low; I saw him wet his lips and decided to embellish, he was too easy to tease, “then I might have jumped in and pulled her hair… But my clothes would’ve gotten all wet.” 

I tugged on the bottom of my white t-shirt and made a theatrically sad face. 

Johnny shuffled in his seat and took my hand when he stood, “We gotta go.”

Our pace through the mall and back to the car was half-running and I was out of breath and giggling when we got in. We only got about halfway back to my place before he pulled over at a secluded look out over the city that we tended to use for smoking pot since no one was ever around. Soon, we were in the familiar backseat. It was still way too public a place and we definitely risked getting caught, but it was hard to care when I had my hands on the car windowsill and he fucked me so hard and fast I was sure the car must have been visibly wobbling from the outside. 

It lasted a long time because he had already finished once in the movie theatre, and by the end, I was sweating and moaning like we were alone in our very own house. Honestly, I had never understood why people talked about screaming during sex, but I was definitely close to it, then. My nails scratched against the glass when I finished with Johnny's hand gripping my hip tight and the other up my shirt. 

Johnny stayed behind me for a long time after we were done, forehead against my shoulder blades as we got our breath back. I could tell when he didn’t really want to go home, he never did those days, he would linger like that for as long as he could. Eventually, of course, we did have to break apart so that he could unceremoniously throw the tied condom out of the window. 

“Johnny, the seagulls,” I complained. 

“Jenna, I don’t think seagulls want to eat my jizz,” he said like he was making a great point. I just looked at him for a second and let it go; he wasn’t dumb, not really, but he sure _said_ some dumb things. 

“You know, some boxers don’t have sex before big matches to like, keep their testosterone high or something,” I said, awkwardly putting my jeans back on in the minimal room in the back of the car.

“Thank christ I’m not a boxer, then,” Johnny reclined back on the seat like he was about to fall asleep. 

I chuckled, heart still hammering as I adjusted my bra where he had pushed it up. 

“You’re definitely going to come and watch me, right?” He asked after a while, happy to let me do up his fly for him. Honestly, I would’ve done anything for him at that moment if he asked, my body was still humming pleasantly all over and I dreaded having to get out and stand on two feet. I wouldn't tell him that, though, he was cocky enough as it was. 

I was surprised he was even asking, “I wouldn’t miss it.”

“Good, need my good luck charm,” he said, the side of his mouth raised in a smile.

“Corny,” I said, but leaned over and kissed him anyway. 

On the road home, as I dug my brush out of the glovebox and tried to make my hair look half-decent, I thought about what I’d seen between him and Kreese and glanced over at him, unsure if I should bring it up. It felt like I should though, so I did, in a roundabout sort of way that wouldn’t make it obvious I had seen what I had. 

“Do you ever think Kreese is a little too hard on you guys? I just mean, from some of the stuff you’ve said…”

Johnny thought about it for a second, “No, he’s not training us to be painters or something, right? He’s training us to fight. Take hits and hit back ten times harder. He can’t be soft.”

“I guess,” I said; still, I didn’t like that he had grabbed him, outside of the dojo no less.

“Look, I know he seems kinda scary. But he respects me, he does. I’m like his second in command in that class. He’s only hard on me because he wants me to be the best I can be.” He said, I looked at him; I knew he liked and respected the guy, maybe I just didn’t get it. 

“Alright, if you say it works then it works,” I shrugged and bit my lip about it. 

It was a warm day for February, so we went back to my place and sat in the backyard; I reclined in a lawn chair and watched Johnny shoot hoops through my heart-shaped sunglasses. He found it difficult to sit still in the weeks leading up to the tournament as if he thought all his muscles would atrophy if he just relaxed for a second. The hoop had been there since we moved in, rusty screws attaching it to the house, he was the first person to actually use it. 

I sipped my orange soda through a straw as I watched him and tried to give him pointers on what to say about Jane Eyre in the next English class.

“I just don’t get why she likes him so much, if he’s ugly and old and blind at the end,” Johnny dribbled the ball around his legs on the cracked paving. 

“Because, he’s totally unpretentious,” I said, “he’s straightforward with her and funny, and they have this great sexual tension,”

He frowned, “I didn’t read the same book as you. There was definitely nothing sexual in it.”

“Not explicitly, it’s in between the lines,” I rolled my eyes, “I’d be into Rochester too.” 

Johnny laughed, “Yeah, right,” he scored a basket and caught the ball again.

“I would! He’s witty and charming,” I smiled. 

“So you’d stay with this ugly old dude with a burned up face and a crazy dead wife?” Johnny took off his shirt, sweating a little and wiping off his forehead with the back of his arm. 

I looked him over, all tan skin and perfectly formed muscles, “Yes. Not that you’ll ever have to worry about being ugly, Ivan Drago.”

He smirked, I knew he would enjoy that comparison.

“Least I know you’ll stick around if I ever am,” he winked. 

“I _did_ say Rochester was witty and charming,” I teased and he threw his shirt at me. 

“Have you ever thought about modelling?” I asked him.

Johnny snorted, went back to shooting hoops, “No.”

“I’m actually not joking, you should be in a magazine or something,” I said, “you should be up on Sharon’s wall, right between Judd Nelson and Bruce.”

“You and Springsteen on a first name basis now, huh?” 

“I dream about him every night, only seems right,” I managed not to giggle until Johnny gave me a look and mimed like he was going to throw the ball at me.

“You don’t mind other girls looking at me with my shirt off when I become a model?” He raised an eyebrow 

“Well, you take your shirt off as often as possible so I don’t really have the time to mind,” I stretched my legs out in front of me; there was a little bruise on my knee from somewhere that I pressed.

Johnny rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t argue with me on that one.

“Standing around getting my picture taken sounds easier than college,” he said. 

College. He’d managed to almost completely avoid saying that word for weeks. It was an opening I couldn’t resist taking. 

“Have you been looking at student dorms in Colorado? You know, since it’s your top choice,” I asked casually.

“Yeah,” Johnny bounced the ball on the cracked paving. 

“Cool,” I nodded, “might be fun to hike in the mountains.”

“Maybe,” one-word answers mean he didn’t want to talk about something, I knew that by now. But we _had_ to talk about it. 

“It’ll be weird us living so far apart, huh? Since I’ll probably be going to Berkeley,” I fiddled with the lace of my shoe. 

“Uh-huh,” Johnny shot again, but it bounced off the edge of the hoop and back to him. 

“‘Uh-huh,’ that’s all I’m getting out of you on this?” I challenged, getting a bit irritated. 

Johnny looked at me then and sighed. 

“Why do you wanna fight about this right now?” 

“I’m not fighting, I’m talking,” I said, keeping my tone straight even though it annoyed me how evasive he was being, “are _you_ fighting?”

Johnny bounced the ball a few times and chewed the inside of his mouth, “I just - I’ve got a lot on my mind right now, okay? I can’t be thinking about that.”

“I know you’re training really hard,” I said, hating when his expression got all sad like that, “but when _are_ you going to be ready to talk about it? Because we really are going to have to.”

He considered me for a second and dropped the ball to come to me and kneel down in front of me so we were face to face. 

“I know, I know,” he put his hands on the chair arms, “just later, baby, please? 

I just looked at him, torn between not wanting to upset him but not wanting to just keep letting it go, either. 

“I just want us to have fun together while we can hang out, alright? I’m so focussed on the tournament right now - I can’t think about -'' His jaw clenched and he glanced down, “it’ll just throw me off. We’ve got tonnes of time to work all that shit out after next week.”

Again, I considered pushing the issue. But I supposed it could wait a week. 

I let him off with a joke, “I forgot you can only handle thinking about one thing at a time,” I said. 

“You’re mean today,” he smirked a bit, “come on, try and cross me up.”

Avoiding, again, but I understood the impulse to avoid. The idea that we could possibly be states apart soon felt like a punch in the stomach every time I thought on it.

Johnny dribbled the ball around his legs, but I successfully managed to get it off him to score, somehow.

“Yes!” I put my hands up in the air in celebration and cheered for myself, running around him while he covered his face, “eat it, Lawrence!”

“Shut the fuck up!” A neighbour called from another garden.

“Screw you, man!” I shouted back; I knew who it was, he was a mean old bastard a few houses down, “I shovelled your driveway last year!” 

Johnny snorted but I got no response from the neighbour, as expected. 

We messed around for a while, both trying to score on each other; he had the advantage of being way taller and more athletic than me, but I was willing to play dirty, shoving him to the side with my arm to get the ball off him. 

Daryl came out and cracked two beers open on the side of the house when Johnny got annoyed with my cheating and caught me around the waist to lift me off my feet with a squeal. 

“What’re you two up to?” He asked

“Just dunking on Johnny,” I smirked when he set me down. Daryl handed Johnny a beer, “where’s mine?”

“You’re an underage young lady,” he said, pointing at me with his bottle. 

“We’re the same age!” I protested, scowling at Johnny sticking his tongue out at me as he sat in my chair. 

“Yeah, but he ain’t my future stepkid,” he took a drink and I rolled my eyes at him, “future stepkid-in-law, maybe.”

At that, I pointedly didn’t look at Johnny. We were definitely way too young to be thinking about that. 

“You gonna finally show me some moves, man?” Daryl said to Johnny. He had been bugging him about it for weeks; he wanted to know how to do a flying kick, as if that were a one lesson type of move. 

Johnny downed more than half his beer and put the bottle on the ground. It was almost impressive how quick he could drink. 

“C’mon, then,” he clapped his hands together. 

“Seriously?” I complained; Johnny shrugged with a grin and took his stance on the lawn. He never missed an opportunity to get a practice in those days. Daryl didn’t put his beer down when he went over to face him, “fine, I’m going inside to order dinner, be careful, children.” 

“We will!” Daryl called, muffled because he was already in a headlock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be up really soon, guys, maybe later tonight (tonight for me in the UK, anyway), but maybe tomorrow. 
> 
> Love you's. x


	13. The All Valley Karate Championships

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's here!

On the day of the All Valley Karate Championships, I woke up nervous. I’d gone to a couple of smaller matches in the months leading up to it, but I knew this was the biggest deal by far. Usually, I would give him a good luck call, but I knew he would want to just keep his head in it that day so I held back. It felt like I spent all day waiting to go to the tournament and I couldn’t believe how anxious my stomach was on his behalf. 

“I wish we could go,” my mom said, blending up some margaritas for her and Daryl. 

“Me too, actually,” I sat up on the counter and tried to enjoy the pizza she’d ordered, “he’s really good.” 

“Good that you’ve got a man that can protect you, Jenna, that’s very valuable,” Daryl said earnestly, pointing at me with his slice, “what’s his fighting style?”

“Uh, I don’t remember, he’s told me before, like the Chinese name for it. But Kreese’s mantra is ‘Strike First, Strike Hard, No Mercy.’” 

“That’s badass,” Daryl nodded in approval. I’d always thought it sounded kind of silly, honestly, but I never told him that.

Soon after, I went to my room to get ready, agonising over my outfit for way longer than I liked to. I landed on a black denim skirt and tucked a yellow t-shirt into it because the colours seemed appropriate, and kept my hair down around my shoulders in loose waves. 

Daryl gave me a ride to the venue and it was even busier than I had thought it would be. Karate really was a thing in our little part of the city, people cared about it as much as they did the football team. It took me a while of standing on my tiptoes looking through the crowd before I spotted Johnny and some of the other Cobra Kai’s, even Dutch, standing near the entrance. He wasn’t in his gi yet, he had his red jacket on and his bag on his shoulder, but the yellow band was in place around his head already. 

“Hi,” I said, seeing the nerves on his face as soon as I got to them; he held himself all tense, jaw ticking. 

“Hey,” he led me a little away from the group and kissed my forehead, “Sensei doesn’t like us to have family and friends on the sidelines but I got you a front-row seat, next to my mom.” He got my ticket out of his pocket and handed it to me. 

“How are you feeling?” I asked, looking up at him.

Johnny glanced back at the group, “Kinda like I might throw up,” He admitted, “looking forward to finally getting face to face with LaRusso, though.” 

“You  _ have _ done a good job of backing off him,” I said.

“Yeah, I told you I’d save it for the mat,” he shrugged, “and I’ve saved it.” 

I almost felt kind of bad for Daniel, Johnny was clearly still desperate to prove he was a better fighter, I could see it ending in worse than a bloody nose. 

“You’ll be awesome,” I assured him and squeezed his hand. Johnny nodded and slipped his jacket off his shoulders, ignoring my puzzled expression when he put it over mine instead. 

“It’ll make it easier for me to spot you,” he said with a small smile and I chuckled and pushed my arms in the sleeves; it was warm and too big, and it smelled like him; he stroked over my arms when I had it on, “and it makes me feel good to see you in it.”

I pulled him down from a quick kiss and pushed his hair off his forehead, wanting to comfort him but eager not to distract him too much. 

“I love you,” I said, squeezing his hands one last time. 

“Love you too,” Johnny squeezed them back, before heading back to his group when Bobby called him. 

Letting out a breath, I made my way through the people heading inside and showed the guy on the door my ticket. I was kind of used to the set up of these things after the matches I went to, knowing it would be split into smaller mats as the competitors were narrowed down by points until there were only two. This was definitely the biggest though, and the stands were almost totally full. 

I skirted around the mats to find my seat, which was easy to spot as soon as I saw Mrs Lawrence’s bright blonde hair in the front row near the main mat. 

That was another reason to be nervous; I hadn’t been back to the house since the country club night and I did not know how she would react to me now that I’d called her husband a bastard. I sat down and smiled at her, tucking my ticket away.

“Hi,” I said.

“Hello, sweetheart,” she smiled at me gently, looking uncomfortable as well, but not like she was angry at me, “I almost didn’t see you there, I was looking for Johnny… God, I get so nervous.”

“I’m nervous too,” I assured her, “I’ve literally been hearing about this tournament since we started dating.”

“That’s not a surprise, he’s so proud of himself when he wins,” she said, and I saw her glance at me in her peripheral vision like there was something she wanted to say but didn’t. 

Awkwardness stayed hanging in the air between us for a little while; I just watched the fights happening in front of us and kept my eyes open for Johnny. The Cobra Kai’s were out on the mats in their armless black gi’s, but so far I had only seen Dutch almost knock someone out. 

“Jenna,” Mrs Lawrence sighed eventually, “I am so, so sorry about the other night, I wanted to call you or come and talk to you but-”

“It’s alright, honestly, it wasn’t you,” I said quickly, not taking any pleasure in the guilt on her face, “I’m sorry for cursing at your husband.” I really wasn’t sorry, I thought I went pretty easy on him, but I had no interest in being shitty to her when she had actually tried to back me up in her way. 

She sighed again and moved her hair over her shoulder, “He deserved it.” 

I smiled a little, not knowing if I should laugh at that. She put a hand on my back gently and I looked at her. 

“You’re very good for Johnny and he cares about you a lot, I can tell. Please don’t let Sid scare you off,” she looked me in the eye and seemed genuinely upset in a way that made me want to hug her. I didn’t really know what to say, I just nodded, feeling mostly sorry for her because she was stuck with this shitty person, “ooh, there he is!” 

She squeezed my arm and we looked over at where Johnny was stepping onto the mat across from someone. I had to actually stop myself from cursing out loud in front of his  _ actual mom _ at how good he looked in his competition gi. 

The fight was a quick one, Johnny easily absorbed a punch and countered another, then sent two quick kicks to his stomach and chest that knocked him back. The rest of the competition was basically a haze, too many fights to keep up with; I noticed Daniel was there, sensei watching closely and Ali right there by the sidelines, cheering him along. I found myself paying attention to him too because it just felt like it was going to come down to the two of them. Daniel was really good, fast and agile.

Johnny fought hard and amazingly in every bout, shining with sweat on his face and chest, and focussed, barely looking in our direction. As more people were eliminated and it got tighter and tighter, I found myself acting as I would at a football game, almost jumping out of my seat and applauding when he would eliminate someone, which he seemed to do with ease.

When it came down to Dutch and Daniel, I was pretty sure Dutch would have a good chance of knocking him out. He was a big guy, very strong and very aggressive, almost as good as Johnny. 

I saw Johnny and Kreese watching intently when they stepped on the mat; they clearly didn’t see Daniel coming out of that one on top either.

Dutch definitely hurt Daniel, but Daniel won that one in the end in points. I saw Johnny and Kreese turn around irately, saying something to one another. Sure, I wanted the Cobra Kai’s to win, but it was kind of enjoyable to watch Dutch get the wind kicked out of him. 

“He’s tougher than he looks, huh?” Mrs Lawrence said to me quietly. 

“Yep,” I said, watching Daniel go to his sensei for a bandage. She obviously had no idea about the beef between him and Daniel and I was not about to tell her. 

It was coming down to the final few, and soon Johnny was right in front of us on the main mat facing off against a guy that I had noticed a few times because of how acrobatic his karate was. 

He jumped up to spin kick Johnny and I flinched, but he backed up a couple of steps and dodged him each time. When Johnny threw out a punch to his abdomen I almost felt the force of it myself, he fell to the ground doubled over, clutching his stomach.

I applauded and watched Johnny gear up for the next round, fists raised, arms tensed and strong-looking. Well, I knew they were strong, he’d proved that to me many times. I bit my lip and glanced at his mom, desperately trying not to think about _that_. 

Johnny finished him off quickly with three swift kicks and I jumped out of my seat and clapped when he did. 

“Shit, yeah!” I shouted before I could stop myself and he did look over at me then, hiding his smile by rubbing the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand and heading back to his team. I sat back down still grinning, a little blush on my cheeks, “sorry.” I said to his mom, who was chuckling at me. Johnny dared to send me a little wink as I tried to bite back my grin and hugged his jacket around me. 

Ali and I caught eyes then too, as Bobby stepped onto the mat to decide if it would come down to Johnny and Daniel. The look we exchanged definitely was not friendly, as if  _ we _ were both about to get onto the mat and have it out. I couldn’t see either of us being great at karate; we could wrestle, maybe, I could see if all that messing around with Sharon had taught me anything.

When Bobby stepped onto the mat I clapped for him too; he looked nervous and a little pale, and I glanced over to see Johnny looking much the same all of a sudden. I caught his eye and I could see the clench in his jaw that meant something was bothering him.

“Something’s wrong,” I said quietly to Mrs Lawrence and wished I could go to him to ask if he was alright. 

The flying kick Bobby sent to Daniel’s leg made me and pretty much everyone else in the audience recoil, along with the shout of pain he immediately let out when he fell to the ground. I covered my mouth, hearing Bobby apologize to Daniel before being dragged away, and looked over at Kreese to see if he was going to say anything about his fighter getting disqualified. He just stood with his arms crossed, stone-faced, but Johnny was looking at him too. Had that been planned?

The upset on Johnny’s face distressed me beyond belief, I wanted to run to him so much. I had never seen him look at Kreese with anything but respect, but Johnny looked angry, he looked on the verge of crying. 

It was even difficult to celebrate when it looked like Johnny might win by default because of Daniel’s injury. Even Johnny didn’t look that happy about it, he looked like he just wanted to take his trophy and leave. When Johnny looked over his shoulder at me, waiting to receive his trophy, I sent him an encouraging smile. We could get home soon, he could talk to me and tell me what was wrong and be done with this.

My smile fell when Ali said something to the announcer, who called, “Daniel LaRusso’s gonna fight!” 

I saw Johnny immediately tense up again, making fists. Daniel was half-limping, I couldn’t see how he was possibly going to try and face him off. 

“Oh, no,” Mrs Lawrence said quietly and I put my hand on her arm.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine,” I said quietly, but I felt as tense as he looked. It made it worse that the trophy had been right there and it was taken away again. I bit my thumbnail as they faced each other and took their stances; it was what Johnny had been looking for all year, I supposed. 

Johnny started off hard like he always did, quick kicks, one after the other, but Daniel landed a punch to his stomach that made him cry out in pain and I winced, feeling Mrs Lawrence do the same. 

“Come on, Johnny!” I clapped him along with the other Cobra Kai’s as they reset. Johnny looked pissed off beyond belief. It was the first point he’d conceded all night.

When Johnny got Daniel on the ground, I thought that might be it, that he was about to land a finishing blow, but Daniel managed to get out of it, eventually locking Johnny’s legs and sending him falling face-first into the mat. 

“Jesus,” I covered my mouth at how hard it had sounded and saw blood when Johnny got up again, holding his nose. 

“Oh god,” Mrs Lawrence put her hand on her forehead, “I don’t like this.”

“He’s okay, they’re calling a timeout,” I assured her like I wasn’t as worried as she was. We watched Johnny go to Kreese so he could examine his nose, wiping the blood off with his thumb. Something was said between them, I didn’t know what, but I could swear Johnny’s eyes were shining a little when he returned to the mat. Just from the nose thing, maybe. 

When they got going again, Johnny was even more relentless than before, seeming to specifically strike for Daniel’s injury. I found myself watching with my hand up to my mouth as they went at each other, Johnny grunting out his attacks, sweat dripping off his hair. 

“Whoever wins this next point will be our new champion!” The announcer called when the two reset again. Johnny got up from his knelt position, panting, and glanced over at me again. 

I made an encouraging fist and mouthed to him that he could do it, seeing him nod almost imperceptibly at me before the fighting started again. 

That time, he caught Daniel’s leg and struck it so hard with his elbow I thought for sure the whole thing would be over. Still, though, he wasn’t for giving up, limping or no. It was kind of impressive, really, as much as I could feel the waves of frustration coming off Johnny that the kid wasn’t just calling it. 

My stomach turned over, the move was illegal so it didn’t even count. Whatever was about to happen would decide it. Mrs Lawrence squeezed my hand; Johnny geared up, fists clenched hard, and went for Daniel. The kick to the face he got had me jump out of my seat with the instinct to run to him. Johnny recoiled and fell to the ground holding his face while everyone cheered. Daniel had won, everyone ran to congratulate him, and I couldn't even see Johnny anymore.  Someone bumped my shoulder as they rushed by me and I could barely even see where Johnny was anymore until I spotted him picking up the trophy and pushing it through the crowd towards Daniel to give it to him personally, congratulating him on his win. 

Heart clenching at that, I couldn’t wait anymore. I pushed through the crowd until I got to him and turned him around. He wrapped his arms around me tight as soon as he saw me, still breathless with exhaustion and sweating, dry blood under his nose. 

“Messed it up,” he mumbled in my ear over the noise of celebration. 

“You were fucking amazing, Johnny,” I pulled back to put my hands on his damp face and make him look at me, “you hear me? You were  _ amazing _ .” 

Johnny nodded, nostrils flaring and blinking away the tears in his eyes. He kissed me and hugged me tightly again before I handed him off to his mom to hug him as well. He _was_ amazing, I didn’t have to lie. He may not have won but he’d been the best fighter there. 

The whole evening became about Daniel and celebrating his win; people loved an underdog, I supposed. Still, the unceremonious way Johnny was just handed his runner-up trophy, no ceremony, no celebration, that irked me. I could tell Johnny just wanted to leave; he didn’t like not to win and he was clearly exhausted and embarrassed. 

“Did you do that thing where you spring up with your hands just because you know I like it?” I asked him quietly when his mom wasn’t listening after he was handed his trophy. He snorted a little bit, which was what I had been hoping for, and shook his head at me. 

“I just wanna take a shower and pass out in your bed,” he told me, messing with the end of my hair. 

“Let’s g-” 

“Lawrence,” Kreese’s bark interrupted us and I looked over at him, standing on the edge of the crowd of people with his big arms crossed. I saw Johnny swallow and his face went stony; he looked reluctant to go with him, but he let out a breath and nodded, handing his trophy to me. 

“Look after this for me, I’ll change and we can get outta here, alright, meet me at my car?”

I nodded and he kissed his mom on the forehead, squeezing her with one arm before following Kreese and the rest of the Cobra Kai’s to the changing rooms. 

“Do you think he’s alright?” Mrs Lawrence asked me, looking over where ‘runner-up’ was carved on the plate of the trophy I rested against my shoulder. 

“I’m sure he will be,” I said, looking at where they’d gone. It wasn’t really that he had missed out on first place that worried me, it was whatever Kreese had said that upset him so much. 

“Oh, lord,” Mrs Lawrence looked at her watch, “I have to go - Sid’ll be -”

“I’ll make sure he’s okay, don’t worry,” I assured her. She smiled and hugged me before we made our goodbyes and she left in a hurry. 

The furore of it all had distracted me for so long I’d barely noticed how badly I needed to pee. There were still a fair few people hanging around, obviously making plans for what they would do after, and I weaved through them to get to the bathrooms. 

It was strange that it was all over, and I was standing Johnny’s runner-up trophy on the back of the toilet so I could pee, so much build-up just for the final fight to be over in a few minutes with a decisive kick to the face. 

When I left the stall, I put the trophy on the sink to wash my hands and realised I was not in there alone. Ali was at the next sink, towel around her shoulders. We noticed each other and I fought the urge to roll my eyes at her presence as I rinsed the soap off my palms; I was not in the mood to hear gloating. 

“Can we just not, tonight?” I asked tiredly. “Tell Daniel congrats, alright? He did really well.” I meant it, he did. She didn’t say anything as I tried off my hands on the blue paper towel and I thought we were going to leave it at that. 

“When I knew Johnny he would never have handed Daniel his trophy like that, I kinda thought he might break it in half,” she said as I was about to leave. I stopped by the door, “maybe I was wrong about him changing.” 

She pursed her lips like it was difficult to admit, but I appreciated her admitting it. 

“You were,” I said, looking at her. Whatever our fight was, I realised, it didn’t really need to end with a kick to the face. 

“You wanna call this the end of it?” She asked, tucking some hair behind her ear. I realised she wasn’t sure if I would accept that, since she didn’t know me very well. Our whole interaction had been about Johnny, her criticizing him, me defending him. I didn’t want it to be like that any more than she did, fighting was not my preferred activity with anyone. 

“Yeah,” I reached out my free hand and shook hers, “sorry calling you a snotty bitch.”

Ali laughed a little, “Sorry for calling you a psycho.” 

I laughed too and we left it at that, leaving whatever beef we had in that bathroom.  It made me feel a lot better than I thought, I noticed when I left the building, to make peace with her. The fight may have been hard to watch but at least it could put a cap on the animosity between Daniel and Johnny before the year was over. I hoped so, anyway. 

I hugged his jacket around me tighter because the night had turned chilly, and looked forward to putting the cumbersome trophy down when I could. The parking lot was starting to clear out as I looked for him, and I spotted him standing next to his car flanked by Bobby and Tommy. It was only when I got closer than I noticed something was wrong. 

Johnny was leaning against the side of the car holding his neck, and the car next to his had its window smashed. Feeling suddenly sick, I picked up my pace to a run, crunching pieces of glass under my boots, “What happened?” I asked, looking between the three of them. 

“Kreese choked him out, LaRusso’s sensei had to back him off,” Tommy said, looking as horrified as I felt, "goddamn backhanded me, too." 

“What the fuck?” I gasped, Johnny’s face was red and his eyes were watery. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he nodded, looking more shocked than anything else.

“Are you sure?” I put a hand on his arm and he just nodded, jaw clenched. 

“Kreese is fucking crazy,” Bobby said, looking angry, “screw him, man, you were great.”

“You were,” I said, Johnny just nodded again looking gone. Worry bubbled in my stomach because I wasn’t really sure what to do. Should I just take him straight to the police station? The hospital? Had Kreese really choked him because he didn’t win once? The thought made me sick on his behalf; he had respected him. 

I went in the pocket of the jacket I was wearing and took out his car keys.

“I’ll drive, okay? Let’s go to your mom,” I rubbed Johnny’s back and opened the passenger door for him. 

“No, your place,” he said quickly, looking even more vulnerable than he’d been on that Halloween night, even in front of his friends. Tommy and Bobby looked concerned too, and I felt a surge of affection for them that they’d had the guts to stick with their friend, unlike the rest.

“Whatever you want,” I said, and he got in the car. 

“Was - was Kreese trying to really hurt him?” I asked Tommy and Bobby quietly. 

“He looked crazy,” Bobby said, “maybe he was just trying to scare him, but… I don’t know, Johnny seriously went purple, he almost passed out.” 

I sighed, chest clenching uncomfortably. 

“Okay, Jesus…” I ran a hand through my hair and went to get in the car, “are _you_ alright Tommy?” I looked at the bruise forming on his cheekbone.

"I'm fine," he shrugged a shoulder, touching where the skin was almost broken,  “we’re not gonna go back there again, alright? Those other guys might, but we’re not,” Tommy said, putting his hand on my shoulder. 

"Thanks for not leaving him guys," I said to them both, "seriously."

They both nodded and glanced at Johnny in the car, clearly worried for their friend. I felt like crying before I got in, trying to seem calmer than I was for his sake. 

The ride home was quiet, his trophy pretty much forgotten on the backseat. My heart hammered, torn between upset and rage. I was pretty sure I had enough adrenaline at that moment to lay Kreese out, nevermind how much bigger and stronger than me he was. A quick knee to the balls would get him on the ground, then I could kick the shit out of him, happily. 

I carried the trophy in when we got back to my place. 

“Oh, that looks like good news, how did it go?” Mom asked from the couch, smiling brightly and looking a few margarita’s deep. 

“I’ll talk to you about it tomorrow, mom,” I said, giving her a look that said not to ask me about it right then, and we went to the bedroom. I put it on top of my drawers and looked at him as he sat down on the edge of my bed, wondering when he was going to say anything. 

“He fuckin’ choked me out,” he said finally, “I’ve known him since I was a kid and he could’ve killed me.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat at the way his blue eyes shone and next to him, “We should tell the cops.”

“No,” he shook his head, “no, I just - I never wanna see that goddamn guy again.”

I nodded because I wasn’t going to go against what he wanted. All I could do was sit and rub circles over his back. There was nothing I could say to make it any better.

“Runner-up at the All Valley is really good, you know? I won all those matches, I fought the best I ever have,” Johnny said it like he was trying to convince himself. 

“You were incredible,” I told him, “I’ve seriously never seen anything like it. Even in the last match, you were like a fucking tornado and Daniel got lucky. Don’t let Kreese make you feel shitty about how you did.”

He sighed and put his head in his hands, elbows on his knees.

"He told Bobby to do that, you know? Mess his leg up," his leg bounced restlessly, "told me to do it too, and I did." 

That was why he'd looked so upset, I guessed, he'd deliberately let Bobby get disqualified to win. 

"You were trying to win," I said, trying to make him feel better. 

“Trying to win dirty," he said, glancing at me, "I just can’t believe all the time I wasted on Cobra fucking Kai to have him do that to me on the one time I’m not perfect,” he shook his head, “what was the goddamn point?”

Again, I didn’t know what to say other than, “I’m so sorry, Johnny.” 

Eventually, he put his head on my shoulder and I stroked his hair because I knew he liked that. Tears filled my eyes and I tried to swallow the lump in my throat unsuccessfully. He never knew his real dad, like me, but I didn’t have a string of father figures disappointing me like he now had. Kreese was just one place below Sid on the shitlist of men who'd made Johnny feel like shit. 

“You’re still my girlfriend,” he confirmed, and I breathed a little laugh, remembering that conversation. 

“Very much so,” I stroked his face with my fingers.

“And I was good?” He looked at me, a little dried blood still on his cheek. 

“You were incredible,” I kissed him gently, “I honestly wanted to go around the whole audience and make sure they knew you were my boyfriend.” 

“This might have been a clue,” he tugged on the front of his jacket; I’d forgotten I had it on.

“Well, good, I want everyone to know you’re mine,” we kissed again, he closed his eyes and leaned into me. 

“I feel shitty,” he said, resting his forehead on mine, “not used to being a loser.”

“2nd place out of all those people is ‘losing’, stop it,” I made him look at me, “the opinion of someone who would do that to you is not important, alright? You’re fucking amazing, that’s why I love you, the number on your trophy doesn’t say a thing about you.”

He let out a shaky breath and I could see he welled up. We kissed again, he held onto me, exhausted, but I still felt gnawed at by him calling himself a loser, by him making sure I still wanted to be with him. On that, I could tell the joking came from somewhere real, that a part of him was scared I would decide to drop him. I got up the courage to say everything I needed to say because I couldn’t let him keep feeling that way. 

“Johnny, I need to tell you something and I want to make sure you definitely hear me, okay?” I swallowed; being so serious and earnest was difficult, “me loving you doesn’t have any conditions. You don’t have to be the best at anything or buy me shit, and no one’s going to come along to suddenly take me away from you. The reason I never dated before is that no one ever just… got me, like you did… I just love you and it might sound stupid but I’m pretty sure I always will.” 

I held the front of his shirt and worried that I’d somehow said too much, gone too far. My cheeks felt hot, it always made me feel kind of embarrassed to talk like that. 

But Johnny held the sides of my face and pressed his forehead against mine, letting out a long breath. 

“I’m pretty sure I’ll always love you too,” he said and kissed me gently, keeping his forehead rested there for a moment while we sat in that confession, “do I smell bad?”

I laughed properly at that, wiping off the tears under my eyes quickly, “A little bit.” 

“Thought so,” he pecked my lips again, smiling, finally, and went to the bathroom to run himself a bath. I realised that I didn’t really want to be away from him and snuck in while the water ran, locking it behind us. Not that my mom would really care if I was in there with him, she knew we slept in the same bed every night he stayed over.

“You’re getting a bruise,” I told him when he reclined in the hot water, bubbles around him from my lavender soak and a little purple mark forming on his jaw. I sat on the closed toilet seat with my feet crossed up on the edge of the tub, aware all his clothes were strewn across the floor.

“Getting a lot of bruises, probably,” he said, closing his eyes, “shit, I’m never getting out of this tub.” 

I snorted, picking up one of my mom’s magazines from the windowsill while he relaxed. It didn’t matter if he was too tired to talk, I just wanted to be in the same room with him. It still felt like my ears were buzzing like after being at a concert from how hectic the evening had been, all the shouting and cheering. Being in my bathroom and just breathing in the lavender-scented steam was nice.

“What’s my horoscope?” He asked, sounding half asleep. 

I chuckled and flipped to the back, finding ‘Leo,’ and clearing my throat, “Today is going to be a day of victory for you, Leo-”

Johnny started laughing and I did too, covering my face with the magazine when he looked at me. That was a little too ironic. 

“Does it seriously say that?” 

“Yeah,” I giggled.

“Fuck that then, read me yours,” he said and dunked his hair in the bath to wet it. 

“Okay, Scorpio,” I cleared my throat again, “today is full of challenges, but they’ll be no match for your sharp wit and intense focus. In love, the stars guide you towards a handsome Pisces wearing green.” 

“Great, no guys in green for you,” he lathered shampoo into his hair. I set down the magazine and knelt next to the bath, resting my chin on the edge while I watched him, “what?” He asked me, looking way too cute with his hair all stuck up with shampoo. 

“Nothing, you just look good wet,” I said, recalling the first time I’d gone in his pool and really tried not to notice that. 

“So do you,” he said, and I only had a second to react before he cupped his hands and dumped water down my front.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I looked down at my wet clothes and back up at him laughing at me. 

“Shit, if you didn’t like that you’re really not gonna be into this next part…” He said faux-thoughtfully before lunging halfway out of the bath to grab me by the middle and drag me over the edge.

“Johnny!” I protested as he pulled me into the water fully clothed, immediately soaked, “oh my god I hate you.” I turned over so my front was against his, clothes sticking to me uncomfortably. 

“I thought you loved me,” he teased, resting his hands on my butt over my soaked skirt. 

“99% of the time, until you ruin my nice sweaters,” I tried to stay looking mad at him, which he knew was nearly impossible. 

“It’s just water,” he picked up some of my hair to mess with, “relax.” 

“Relax, he says,” I murmured and rested my cheek on his chest, accepting it was too late to bother getting out yet, “pain in the ass.” 

“Yeah, but you love that, too,” he said, voice pleasantly reverberating in his chest.

I rolled my eyes but smiled, “Yep, I do.” 

We stayed lying in the hot water for a while until I forgot I had my clothes on still, too tired to care anymore. The day had been long and emotional, and I didn't mind lying in soaked clothes as long as I was lying with him. 

“Thank you,” Johnny said out of nowhere, still messing with my hair.

“What for?” I asked, running my fingers over his ribs. 

“I don’t know,” I felt him shrug, voice quiet, “everything.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew... Apologies for the beats in this that were just like the movie, I could only write around it so much. 
> 
> We're getting in the last legs of this story now, only a few more chapters to go :( 
> 
> xx


	14. Good Shit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay... The penultimate chapter that I already wrote was supposed to go here, but I had this idea and I just had to slot it in. As much as I love writing this story, I hate to artificially extend it just because I love it - you’ll notice from some of my other fics that I tend to keep things short and I like to end when it’s right to end.
> 
> That being said! I couldn’t resist getting in a little bit of Johnny’s POV before the end, since this is fanfiction and I can do what I want. Enjoy!

I woke up with the covers completely pulled off me; Jenna had a habit of burrito-ing herself during the night and I wouldn’t notice until I woke up freezing. Glancing at the clock, it was about 10am anyway, it was about time I went home and checked in with my mom, even if leaving her house and going to mine always sucked. When I lay back down, the night before back to me; I touched my jaw and felt the tenderness there, and the memory of the kick was so fresh I actually flinched at the thought. I didn’t want to go home. Sid would know what happened and would do his best to make me feel even shittier about it; mom wouldn’t mind if I just called her. 

The whole night, the embarrassment of coming 2nd place, what Kreese did to me in the parking lot, it just made me feel sick, like a shitty memory from a long time ago, even though it would be as fresh in everyone else’s minds as it was mine.

I sat up on my elbow because laying down was making me want to puke. Jenna looked pretty when she was asleep, turned away from me with a few strands of red hair over her cheek; she looked pretty all the time, though, I’d not seen her at a bad angle yet. Remembering what she said the night before made me feel a little better, that she loved me without conditions. She was good with words, like that, and I could always tell when she really meant what she was saying because she looked me dead in the eye and talked totally firm. It was still kind of hard to get used to, that someone like her totally loved me back, but she did. 

Very gently, I moved a few of the strands of hair off her face and she sighed in her sleep. Weird that I’d been pretty sure she totally hated me when we first met and a few months later she was the person I wanted to be around the most.

I decided to let her wake up on her own time and slipped out of bed; I’d stayed there enough times that there were a few of my t-shirts around her room and I found a random blue one and slipped it on. Daryl and her mom wouldn’t care if I walked around in my boxers, Miss Parker didn’t usually get up until about noon on a Sunday anyway. 

Daryl was already in the kitchen when I went in, making a pot of coffee and wearing a big pink fluffy robe I was guessing wasn’t his. He was a cool dude, actually, I liked him. I could tell Jenna did too, even if she was a little cautious about men around her mom.

“Hey man,” he said, “coffee?”

“Yeah, for Jenna too,” I went in the cupboard above the sink and got the box of HoHo’s I knew would be in there. Usually, I wouldn’t have much more than granola on a Sunday morning before karate… But I wasn’t going, for the first time since I was a kid, so I shoved the whole thing in my mouth and unwrapped another one. 

“You good? We thought you’d come tell us all about the championships last night,” he leaned back on the counter while the pot brewed. 

“Yeah, it was a shitshow,” I shrugged a shoulder like I didn’t care, “lost.”

“You _lost_?” He said, surprised. “What was with that bigass trophy?”

“Well, I didn’t _lose_. I came runner-up,” I swallowed my second HoHo. 

“Out of how many kids?” Daryl raised his eyebrow. 

“I don’t know, like, 150,” I threw the wrappers in the trash even though my instinct was to leave them on the counter; Jenna would lose it.

“Shit man, that ain’t losing,” Daryl clapped me on the back a little too hard, looking impressed, “that’s A fuckin’ plus if you ask me.” 

I scoffed a little at how much he honestly thought it was cool. I knew where he was coming from, I did, but there had been a reason Kreese was so pissed off; he’d always told me 2nd place wasn’t an option for me, he’d never made that a secret. 

“What’s with the face? You disappointed?” Daryl sipped his coffee and got a little of the creamer in his thick moustache. 

I shrugged a shoulder, “Last year and the year before I got 1st, didn’t lose a single point… Then this kid comes outta nowhere and crane kicks me in the face and wrecks it.” 

Daryl looked at me for a moment with a frown like he was trying to figure out what I was saying. 

“I don’t think I’m following you… So you get two gold medals, then a silver, and suddenly the gold medals are made of wood?” 

He said it like it was so obvious, but I hadn’t thought of it that way. I swallowed and shook my head, “Yeah but I didn’t lose the gold to some amazing athlete, I lost it to a skinny amateur from New Jersey.” 

Daryl scoffed a little, “So it don’t matter how good you are if the piece of metal ain’t shiny enough at the end?… That’s a sad way of looking at things my friend.” 

Shit, when did he get so damn wise? Sid would definitely tell me never to take like advice off a guy with a neck tattoo of a deformed-looking swallow. But screw Sid.

“Look, let me tell you something, all this competitive shit? All this high school rivalry stuff? You’re not gonna give a fuck about it in a few months and you’re gonna wonder why you didn’t spend more time enjoying the good shit like that beautiful girl in there you’re daffy about,” he handed me the two cups of coffee on his way by, “fuck trophies, alright? You’re a badass kid.” 

I stood there frozen for a second holding the two mugs. I wasn’t actually sure why I cared that he’d said that, we didn’t know each other that well… I don’t know... For one, I hoped he was right, that I wouldn’t care about this stuff soon, but it also felt kind of nice to have someone tell me that stuff. 

Jenna came out of the bedroom with her hair a mess and those familiar plaid pyjamas on. Her eyes were always a little puffy in the morning and she would squint against the sun like it was offending her.

“Oh coffee, thank god,” she took the mug off me and I watched her put her full lip on the rim and sip it, making a noise usually kept between us, “fuck yeah.”

“Morning,” I said when I finally got my voice back from Daryl’s surprisingly serious pep talk, “you sleep?”

“Yeah, sorry for stealing the covers, we should probably get two comforters,” she said, distracted by putting her thumb on my chin so I would lift it and she could see the bruise that obviously was forming there, “did you?” 

There was concern in her sleepy eyes, which wasn’t surprising after how messed up I’d been the night before. 

“Yeah,” I said, even though it was only half true; I’d woken up basically every hour, brain too buzzed to really go to sleep. At one point, at around 4am, I’d dreamed about Kreese’s forearm around my neck and actually jolted awake so hard I was worried I would wake her up. Him yelling in my face or grabbing me had always been kind of scary, but he’d never put his hands on me _that_ bad. 

Jenna was still looking at me with a little line in the middle of her brows, I forced myself to snap out of it and sat down on the couch, turning on the TV. 

“I don’t want to go on about it if you don’t feel like talking,” she said when she said down beside me, “but are you okay? ‘Cause it’s fine if you’re not.” 

I always found it kind of hard to talk about stuff that was making me feel shitty. Felt like if I did Sid was going to come out of nowhere and tell me to stop whining, or Kreese would ask me if I was about to cry like a girl. Jenna didn’t do that though, I knew that, she was always totally gentle, so I sipped my coffee and tried to relax. 

“I think the 2nd place thing, like, I can handle that. It is what it is, y’know?” I felt myself grinding my back teeth and stopped because it made my jaw ache, “But what Kreese did to me? That-" I struggled to find the words, "Cobra Kai was the only thing that made me feel good about myself when I joined up and it ended like _that_ , I for real started to black out.” 

Jenna put her hand on my knee, “We can still tell the police,” she said. 

“I don’t wanna deal with cops and filing a report and all that shit,” I shook my head, “I just know for a fact he doesn’t give a shit about doing that to me. Doesn’t give a shit about me at all.”

I could tell she wasn’t sure what to say, but her rubbing my knee was nice anyway. 

“I’m tempted to suggest criminal damage on the dojo but a felony might screw up our college plans,” she said with a little smile after a bit. 

I snorted, “What were you thinking?”

“Spray paint a dick on his window, nothing clever,” she shrugged. 

“We could brick his car,” I suggested; he loved that stupid car. 

“We could burn down his house,” she smiled a little wider.

I snorted at that, “Shit, you always have to go crazy.”

“He deserves it,” she said and put a leg up over my thighs, resting her back on the couch arm to drink her coffee. 

“Yeah he does,” I relaxed back into the couch and felt the soft skin of her calf, “what’s the point, really?”

“There isn’t one,” she sighed, “he’s just a pathetic bastard with a little dick who lost his champion and more than half his students. Fuck him,” she said; her nostrils flared a little like they only did when she was really pissed. 

“Fuck him,” I agreed. Still, the idea of him not being my sensei anymore was extremely weird. 

“What do you want to do today?” She asked after a while of half-watching cartoons.

“Just kinda feel like driving, maybe walk a little,” I said; I needed to do something to get my mind off it being the first Sunday in forever I wasn’t going to the dojo. 

“I know what that’s code for,” she smirked, setting down her empty mug. Right, I could tell what she was thinking. 

“What?” I played innocent; us driving together tended to end with us in the back seat a lot. 

“You just feel like driving until we can find somewhere quiet and screw in the back,” she said, eyebrow raised at me. 

“I’ve never heard you complaining about that activity, baby,” I squeezed her leg and she giggled and kicked me with the other one. 

“So you admit that was your motive?”

“I’m not admitting shit, your honour,” I said and she snickered and took her legs off me. 

“Okay, let’s go for a drive and walk,” she got up to go to the bedroom, “ _after_ a breakfast sandwich from Mimi’s.” 

My getting dressed was pretty much just putting on my jeans from the night before and finding my shoes in the bathroom. I laid back down on her bed instead, kind of feeling like I could fall asleep again in the cushions. Her room was way smaller than mine, all the furniture kind of squashed in, but it was pretty much my favourite place to be. It was cosy, posters all over the walls and books stacked up everywhere because there was no room for shelves, and it was always clean and neat and it smelled like her. The runner-up trophy on her dresser bothered me; I just wanted to throw it out. 

I looked over at her getting ready, kneeling on the floor in front of the mirror on the back of her door. The makeup part was kind of boring because I never really got what she was doing, but I always kind of liked to watch her brush her hair. It was so red, when the sun hit it right it looked like it would actually taste like gingerbread. I definitely paid attention when she took off her pyjamas and started finding her clothes. Obviously, she was insanely hot and I hadn’t been making it up when I told her I’d noticed her a long time before we actually talked. Somehow, she seemed totally oblivious to the fact that she was built to have guys drooling over her. I was pretty sure half the reason Dutch was so shitty to her and Sharon was that he was pissed he’d never get a shot.

She pulled up her jeans and I took the opportunity to check out her ass before she covered it, turning around and zipping them up over her little belly.

“Are you checking me out?” She asked, amused.

“Duh,” I said, throat a little dry and distracted by how it almost wasn’t fair that her tits were as nice as her ass, as if God had built her to torture me. How was I ever supposed to pay attention in English when she would walk right by my desk every day looking like that, wearing some faded band t-shirt, smelling fresh laundry and fruity shampoo?

She put on a white Van Halen shirt with black sleeves that went to her elbows and tied her hair up with a scrunchie.

“Verdict?” She asked, putting her hands on her hips and posing, not letting me get away with staring without teasing me about it. 

“Perfect 10,” I said, getting off the bed to put my arms around her and kiss the side of her neck a bunch of times. She laughed and elbowed me and we left, grabbing my car keys on the way out.

From the start, I seriously loved driving around with Jenna, even before the backseat stuff was an option. She had great music taste and she wasn’t embarrassed about shouting the lyrics along to it when the top was down. She’d put on those heart-shaped sunglasses she got from the gas station and smile at me in a way that honestly made me think of asking her if we could just keep driving and never go home. My chest actually hurt when I looked at her sometimes and I had to stop myself telling her I loved her every two minutes like a weirdo. 

That wasn’t really an option, not the day before school, anyway, so we went to Topanga state park to walk a short trail and talk about anything other than karate. I climbed up a tree on the side of the path to see how long I could hold onto the branch without my arms getting tired. 

“Do a pull-up,” she said, amused, and I did a few to make her giggle. On the way back down, I lost my footing and fell right off and onto my back; not far, just enough to hurt a little bit. She found that very funny.

“Oh my god, are you alright?” She asked through laughs, offering me her hand.

“Like you care,” I took her hand and she helped me up and brushed the twigs and dirt off my back. 

“I do!” She protested, still laughing, “you just went down like a sack of potatoes.” 

“I could've seriously fucked my back up,” I put my arm over her shoulders, “and you’re laughing.” 

“I thought you were tough,” she pinched my stomach with her bottom lip sticking out and I tugged her closer to me to nose her hair aside and bite her ear a little to make her squeal and try to squirm away. 

We walked for a while and stopped at a little resting spot where people could sit in the little wooden shack out of the sun and get a soda from the vending machine. There was a little picnic area too, so I got us a couple of cans of Fanta; she was sitting up on the table of one of the picnic tables with her sunglasses pushed up on her head, feet up on the bench, looking like an album cover or something. I kind of wished I carried a camera around.

“We should do this more,” she said, cracking open the can, “it’s pretty out here.”

“Yeah,” I sat down on the bench, “we’ve got all summer to do shit like this.”

“And then there’s Colorado,” she said, “Rocky Mountain National Park is supposed to be amazing.” 

“Uh-huh,” I said and took a big drink. I didn’t understand why she wanted to keep bringing up college when it was so shitty to think about. It was like a kick in the gut every time. I could tell she was about to say something else about it when a big group of people came off the trail, all wearing huge backpacks and in full walking gear.

“Hello!” One of the women called to us as if she knew us. 

“Hi!” Jenna called back, waving, always ready to talk to people.

They ended up asking if they could sit with us, a group of six of them, all a little older in their 40s to their 60s. Two of the couples were doing something called the Pacific Crest Trail, I’d never heard of it, but apparently, it was almost 3,000 miles from the border of Mexico to the border of Canada. I was pretty fit, but that sounded insane; apparently, they cut out half their year and planned for it for two years before that. They were nice, all kind of hippie-ish and friendly, looking totally exhausted and sunburnt.

Jenna seemed fascinated by it, listening to their anecdotes leaning on her hand with wide eyes. The other couple wasn’t doing that intense trail, they were just doing a small round trip and heading back to the bus that they travelled in. It was funny, that was what Jenna always joked about us doing. 

“That would work for me,” Jenna said to the woman who was downing her third soda while her husband set up a camping stove next to us. 

“You wouldn’t wanna camp?” I asked her. 

“Sometimes, yeah, but I like the option of a solid roof sometimes,” she shrugged, “I’m not _that_ into walking.” 

“Agreed, you need a real mattress to sleep on,” the woman said, one of the PCT hikers next to her laughing

“Refrigerator full of beer,” her husband with the long beard and the Grateful Dead t-shirt said, screwing the gas canister onto the stove. 

“Stash full of hash,” she said quietly and we all laughed at that. They were kind of awesome, for old people, they just looked like they were having a good time. 

“So you kinda just hop on and off the trail when you feel like?” Jenna asked, clearly interested. 

“Uh-huh, we like to see the state parks, you know? Get a feel for the place. Hundreds of miles at a time isn’t for me, though, I like to put my feet up and let him drive.” She nodded at her husband. 

“That sounds awesome,” Jenna said, looking a little starry-eyed. 

“It does,” the PCT hiker with the ginger moustache took off his hat to run a hand through his sweaty hair, “you only do a trail like this if you’re okay with wrapping up blisters in duct tape to keep walking.”

I snorted, “That’s nasty, man.” 

Somehow, we ended up having lunch with them and staying there for a couple of hours, eating the hot dogs they insisted we share with them, (I put a ten in the vending machine to get them as many sodas as they wanted in return) and listening to their stories. It was totally not what I expected to do that day, but it actually ended up being a lot of fun. They were all just the most chill people, totally unfazed when they told us about running into mountain lion tracks on the trail or hearing coyote calls from their tents. 

Patty, the woman who travelled by bus with her husband, took out a Polaroid camera before they left and asked if she could have a picture of all of us, showing us the scrapbook she kept of pictures of people they met on the way. Couples, kids, people travelling alone, huge families posing in front of the Grand Canyon.

We all gathered in a group and I put my arm around Jenna’s shoulder and kissed her cheek for the picture. She took a second one and gave it to me, saying we looked too cute not to have our own copy. It only occurred to me when they left that I hadn’t thought about the night before all afternoon, which I hadn’t expected to happen at all. 

Jenna watched them go, still smiling, “That was fun,” she said. 

“Yeah, it was,” I said, looking down at the picture in my hand, the way her nose scrunched when she smiled wide, us surrounded by people who we’d never see again but had totally acted like we were all friends. Maybe Daryl had been right; they didn't seem caught up on any competitive, high school shit, they were just walking around sharing their food with people and enjoying themselves. 

“Lost in thought there?” Jenna asked, her mouth quirked in amusement, resting her chin on my shoulder.

“Nah,” I looked at her, smiling a bit too, “totally clear.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was really fun, hope you liked it. Next chapter will be the penultimate one, for sure, check back soon.
> 
> Love you's.
> 
> <3


	15. Roll Credits

It was weird how the tournament felt like it was going to change so much and then barely anything was different at all. People paid more attention to Daniel at school, for sure, but it wasn’t like Johnny suddenly got demoted. If anything, the way he’d acted at the All Valley made people see him in a different way, him swallowing his pride to give Daniel his trophy personally looked good on him and he didn’t seem to entirely know how to react to people suddenly thinking he wasn't such a dick. 

The animosity between them seemed to mostly evaporate too. They weren’t friends, in any way, and I knew Johnny was sore about that kick to the face and missing out on his winner’s trophy, but they’d had their final fight, it was done and it didn’t seem like Johnny really cared that much about him anymore. He stood behind him in the lunchline once, Daniel said ‘hey’ and Johnny said ‘hey’ back, they took their food and parted ways. 

What felt the strangest was that Johnny stopped going to Cobra Kai. Actually, everyone except Dutch and a couple of other holdouts seemed to quit with him. I knew he missed it, although I had to stop him throwing out his old trophies and medals, instead I got him to put them in a box and store them in his closet, just in case he wanted them later. The loss hit him hard, for sure, but I knew it was the betrayal that got to him the most. For my part, I hated Kreese for making him hate the thing that he was best at, the thing that he used to feel his most comfortable doing. I think Johnny kind of missed him, in a way, though he wouldn’t say it. 

In no time, at school anyway, the tournament was forgotten. Finals dominated everyone’s minds, the year was coming to an end. Winter turned to Spring and Spring started to get warmer and warmer as Summer crept over the horizon. Our hangouts leading up to finals became more what it had been in the early days; studying, going over notes, calling Sharon and asking her to please explain trigonometry to us. 

And  _ still, _ Johnny and I hadn’t really talked about what we would do when summer ended. Something else always came up.

About a week before finals started, we were sitting in his window seat making flashcards for history and I really was going to bring it up, I opened my mouth to do it. 

“I’ve been thinkin’,” Johnny was looking out of the open window, distracted, “I actually feel super good right now.”

Well shit, that really made me close my mouth about it.

“Oh yeah?” I asked, setting down my pen.

“Yeah, like, not doing karate sucks, sure… But I think all that stuff Kreese drilled into us, that ‘no mercy’ shit, I think it was fucking with my head,” he leaned back on the wall behind him and I just listened, “like, I seriously could’ve killed Daniel, you know? By accident, if it’d gone too far one of those times. Or broken his leg at the championships.”

Johnny messed with the laces of his sneakers; I still kept quiet, I could tell when he just needed to get it out. 

“I mean, what the fuck?” He laughed a little, shaking his head in disbelief, “I don’t wanna be like that over some petty shit.” 

I put my hand on his and ran my thumb over his knuckles, “Good. Being that way didn’t do you any justice.” 

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“I mean, like…” I tried to think of the right words, “you’re strong and you’re good in a fight, sure, that’s cool. But you’re mostly just really fucking sweet.” 

He snorted and shook his head.

“I mean it,” I said, seeing he thought I was mostly kidding, “if Kreese’s whole thing was that you had to be tough and merciless all the time then he was making you shut off the best parts of yourself. You care about people really fucking hard, that’s one of my favourite things about you.” 

The side of Johnny’s mouth raised in an embarrassed smile and his bright blue eyes glanced down, “Kreese would say I was being a pussy.” 

“Kreese can go fuck himself,” I said and he smiled properly then and lifted my hand to kiss it. 

“Alright, back to the Great Depression, I guess,” he said, picking up our notes. 

* * *

After all the build-up, finals went by in a flash and I felt pretty good about most of them. To celebrate, we all went to one of the big parties and drank way too much, I held Sharon’s hair while she puked in a toilet and I found myself feeling just kind of sad most of the night. It really was almost over. I really hadn’t appreciated getting to see my favourite people every day until the prospect of not doing was staring me in the face.

I’d heard about senior’s really not giving a shit anymore after the tests were all done and honestly, I felt that too. I was way less guilty about zoning out in physics class when I knew I didn’t really need it anymore, spending more time doodling than anything else. 

Even graduation had a sadness to it; we threw our hats, Sharon and I hugged each other and teared up, disbelieving that we were actually done with school after going through it together since middle school. Johnny put his hat on my head and kissed me through my giggles. It was joyful, but we both knew any more time we spent together would take more effort than it had when we went to the same building every day. When we were in different  _ states _ every day. Fuck.

Prom came first, though, we could talk after that, he said. 

Sharon and I walked through the racks in the department store, looking over the dresses. For once, I had money to spend, because Johnny absolutely insisted on buying me a dress as a graduation gift and had not relented until I took the envelope of cash and promised I’d get exactly what I wanted. 

“I can’t believe you got your letter already,” I said, watching her nod along to the Huey Lewis song that was playing through the store, “it’s making me nervous.”

“Don’t be nervous, Jesse got his a week before me,” she held a pink one up to her body. 

“Have I told you I’m very proud of you, Little Miss Columbia University?” I smiled at her.

“Many times,” she grinned back, showing her perfectly straight, newly-braceless teeth, “I just - I can’t believe we’re gonna live that far apart.”

“Don’t. Let’s not cry again,” I said; we had been tearing up a lot lately, “I’m gonna call you all the time, and in a few years you’ll be my doctor and give me free medical care.”

“More than a  _ few _ years,” she chuckled, “but fine, let’s talk about something else because I am choking up already.”

“What do you think about this?” I held a shorter purple one up to her. “You look great in this colour.”

“Too ruffly,” she said, “you should totally get this one though.” She picked up an emerald green gown that went almost to the floor, spaghetti straps and little embellishments on the bodice. 

“I’ll try it on,” I said and took it, “but you always pick green for me.”

“You’re a redhead, it suits you,” she said and draped another dress over her arm, “c’mon, we have options, let’s try on.”

The store was fancy enough that the changing rooms were big and open, all plush pink carpet and luxury seating in the middle of the room. It was definitely the nicest store I’d ever bought clothes from and the idea of paying over $100 made me kind of want to puke, gift or not. 

“Does Johnny know where he’s going yet?” Sharon asked me from her cubicle next to mine as I undressed.

“No,” I sighed, “he hasn’t got his letters yet either, but his grades were great by the end. He’s probably going to end up getting into Boulder.”

“Colorado's pretty,” she said, obviously hearing the lack of enthusiasm in my voice. 

“Yep, it is,” I said, pulling on the dress and struggling with the zip on the back for a moment. 

When I got it on and looked at myself in the full-length mirror, I couldn’t deny how much it suited me. It was simple, but it fit me like a glove and flattered my waist and my chest. I put my hands on my hips and looked at it from the side; the satin shone where the skirt moved. Yep, it was definitely the one. 

We counted down from three and opened the curtains at the same time. Sharon looked gorgeous too, her dress was a deep red and a little shorter than mine with a tulle skirt that stopped just below her knee. I looked at her for a second, and I was struck by just how much I loved my best friend.

“That’s the dress,” I said, almost feeling like I was about to cry. 

“Same to you,” she said, looking a little emotional too. We hugged each other and sat down on the seating in the middle of the room together, enjoying our pretty dresses for a bit longer. 

“Have you and Jesse had the conversation yet?” I asked her. 

“No,” she shook her head, “I think we’re both just pretending I’m not moving to New York and he’s not moving to Boston until I’m in the car.”

“Same,” I sighed; at least Johnny and I weren’t the only ones avoiding it at all costs, “I really don’t want to be away from him.”

“I know,” she said and rested her curly-haired head on my shoulder. 

“Or you,” I said.

“Me neither,” she shook her head. 

“Let’s just forget college and stay here, then, all of us. We can live in Sid’s cabin,” I suggested with a smirk. 

She laughed, “Okay, sounds good to me.”

We got the dresses as much as it pained me to part from the money. After going to other stores in the mall to get our shoes and accessories, we drove home and picked up coffees on the way, taking our time about it. Basically every minute we weren’t with Johnny or Jesse we were spending together, holding onto all the time we could before it came to separating. 

I waved bye to her when she drove away, the sun starting to set even though we’d started our little shopping trip that morning. Like I had every day for a month, I opened the mailbox just to check, and felt my heart start to hammer when I saw the large envelope inside. 

“Shit,” I whispered to myself, having expected to find it empty again. 

When I took it out, my stomach flipped to see it was addressed to me; there was the logo of the University of California, Berkeley, in the corner. My hands shook when I opened it and I almost fell to the ground when I scanned the page and saw the word ‘Accepted.’ On my front lawn, I put my arms in the air and cheered for myself, getting strange looks from the neighbours who were out. 

I had maybe never seen my mom cry more than she did when I went inside and told her, wrapping my arms around me and flinging us both on the couch.

“My baby is so smart,” she kissed my cheek hard and snatched the letter out of my hands to read it herself. I was excited, stomach bubbling, grinning my face off. It was what I had been looking forward to for years, it was the exact letter I was waiting for, I almost couldn’t believe it.

“Oh my god,” my mom wiped tears off her face looking at the letter and I started to tear up too.

“Mom…” I rubbed her back gently, it suddenly hit me that I really was going to be living away from her for the first time in my life, for the first time since she was my age.

“I’m so proud of you, sweetheart,” she said, looking at me and putting a hand on my face, “I’m just really gonna miss you.” 

She put her arms around my shoulders tight and we sat together like that on the couch for a while, her still holding my acceptance letter and me with a lump in my throat. Eventually, she got up so she could tell Daryl, then my grandparents, then all her friends. When I finally got on the phone to Sharon, she squealed and congratulated me as well.

I keyed in Johnny’s number last but hung up before it started ringing. Better to tell him in person, I thought, maybe even after prom the next day. 

* * *

We listened to Prince in Sharon’s room while we got ready for the prom. I was pretty sure the amount of perfume and hairspray fumes in the air could knock someone out if they walked in, but we were having a good time, breaking to dance and sing into the hairbrushes sometimes. 

I teased Sharon’s hair in the back while she sat at her dressing table because she wanted her updo to be huge and looked at her in the mirror when we talked.

“Just don’t tell him, alright? I don’t wanna ruin his night,” I said.

“Well, he should be happy for you, I don’t think it would ruin his night,” she put on some red lipstick to go with her dress. 

“He will be happy for me,” I said, spritzing some spray on the section I had done, “maybe I don’t want to ruin  _ my _ night by making it real.” 

“Jesse and I have talked about it,” she said and handed me the big box of clips and bobby pins I was supposed to put her hair up with. 

“And?”

“You know him, all chill,” she said, “we’re not going to break up, but we’re not going to promise we’ll be together forever, either. Just see how it goes.”

“Are you cool with that?” I asked, trying to hide in my tone how much I would hate it if Johnny said that to me. Even though, honestly, that was the only thing that really made sense to say. That was part of why I was putting off talking about it too because I didn’t know the magic words either.

"Yeah,” she shrugged, sounding calmer about it all than I was, “it sucks but we’ve got to be realistic, right?”

“Right,” I said and concentrated on making her hair look how she wanted. We swapped places when I was done and she put my hair up too, using her curling iron to add a few waves to the pieces hanging around my face and securing a sparkly barrette just above my ear.

I looked pretty, I thought, the dress complimented the paleness of my skin and the green of my eyes and Sharon had made my hair look great. Before the boys turned up, I touched up my blush and peachy lipstick before heading to the living room so Sharon’s mom could take pictures of us posing. 

Renting a car wasn’t really our style, so Johnny and Jesse showed up in the Firebird. Johnny looked just ridiculously handsome in his black tux, a gardenia pinned to his lapel and his hair brushed back like it was when he was trying to look neat. Ridiculous how I would still look at him sometimes in disbelief that he was actually  _ my _ boyfriend. 

“Oh my god,” he took my hand and turned me around when he came in, “you look seriously gorgeous.” He actually sounded a bit breathless, which made me blush.

“You too,” I said, ears hot at how he couldn’t stop looking at me. Honestly, he made me feel like I was the hottest thing on the planet sometimes, it made me feel as good as it did dizzy with bashfulness. 

“You all look so good,” Sharon’s mom said, looking a little emotional as well, “come on, more pictures.”

“Mom…” Sharon whined, eager to get there.

“Come on, you’re gonna want these when you’re my age,” she insisted. We relented and posed embarrassedly for the typical photos, the four of us, each in couples, Sharon and me together. She promised to send copies to my mom when she was done and we finally left, piling in the car.

I’d been to plenty of dances at the school, but they really went out for senior prom. Balloons and sparkly streamers, along with a huge sign hung behind the stage that read ‘GOOD LUCK CLASS OF ‘85.’ There was a giddy and excited energy about it all, but also a sense of finality. Lots of people hugging tightly like they weren’t going to be seeing each other again. Maybe some of them wouldn’t be. We beelined for the snack table first, Johnny threw a grape in the air and caught it in his mouth while I poured out some punch.

"Shit," I said, smelling it, "just punch."

"Give it time," Johnny grinned, "we shoulda just done it ourselves." 

"With that really nice tequila from Sid's cabinet," I grinned.

"Man, wish I'd have thought of that before," he snorted. 

"Oh, hey," we didn't notice that Daniel and Ali were standing next to us until she spoke. They both looked great too, her in a satiny blue gown with puffy sleeves and him in his tux and red bowtie. There was definitely awkwardness between the four of us, still, the memory of all that animosity still very fresh. 

"Hi," I said, forcing a smile at them, "I love your dress."

"I love yours," Ali said. It was easier for us to talk than our dates, who stood beside us with their hands in their pockets awkwardly, "hey, Johnny."

"Hey," he said to her, smiling a bit, then looked at Daniel, "how's the leg?"

After a second of surprise that he was asking, Daniel looked down at it, "Totally healed, apparently."

"Good," Johnny said and glanced down at his shoes, "sorry about that." He chewed on the inside of his mouth. I glanced at him, also surprised, seeing how difficult it was for him to say that. 

Daniel shrugged a shoulder, "It's cool." 

Johnny nodded and took a sip of his punch; Ali and I caught eyes, sharing a little bewildered look. 

"Alright," I said finally, cutting through the quiet and taking Johnny's arm, "we better uh-"

"Yeah, us too," Ali said quickly, taking Daniel's hand. They shared a last friendly nod and we parted ways. I squeezed Johnny's arm; I didn't need to tell him I was proud of him for saying that, he was already embarrassed enough. I just stood on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek. 

We danced together for a while until we were all pink-faced, then Johnny left me to dance with Sharon for a bit while he went to go to talk to his friends. Soon, Diane and the other girls brought us both a cup of the successfully spiked punch and we cheered and drank the gross liquid together for a while before the boys came back and joined us. 

“Bobby says thanks for setting him up with Diane,” Johnny said in my ear, taking my punch so he could have a sip, “he’s pretty sure he’s going to get laid tonight.”

I elbowed him in the stomach and shook my head at him while he laughed and put an arm around my waist to sway with him again. 

“Just like Halloween,” he said, looking up at the disco ball above us. I didn't need reminding, that had been when I had been totally sure how into him I was, skeleton face-paint and all. As much as I liked the look, I much preferred him in his tux, much like every other girl there who I caught glancing over at him instead of at their own dates. I didn't mind that though, honestly, there was something kind of pettily satisfying about knowing I had what everyone else wanted. 

“How could I forget?” I teased and took the cup off of him to sip it too; it was more vodka than fruit at that point, the teachers would definitely notice soon. 

“I know I won’t. That costume, shit…” He squeezed my waist a little and wet his lips. 

“Are you drunk already?” I raised my eyebrow.

“Drunk on you,” he said, already smirking because he knew I would make a gagging noise at the cheesiness and push him away. Chuckling, Johnny went to pull me in again but the music was turned down and the squeaking sound of the microphone being turned on echoed through the hall. Mr Wilson, who had clearly been unlucky enough to be one of the chaperone’s, was adjusting his glasses up on the stage and holding a little white card.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said with fake enthusiasm, “it’s my honour to announce this year’s West Valley High prom king and queen.” 

Oh,  _ no _ . 

“Oh fuck,” I gripped Johnny’s arm hard, my stomach dropping. I had totally forgotten about that conversation we had with the girls a few weeks before about how sure they were that it would be us. I looked at Sharon, horrified, and she looked at me with a big smile and a thumbs up.

“What?” Johnny whispered to me, confused. Maybe it wouldn’t be us. I was about ready to get down on my knees and pray it wouldn’t be us, especially when two girls walked on stage, one holding the shiny gold plastic crown for the king and the matching tiara for the queen on little velvet pillows. The last thing I wanted on the planet was to have to get up on the stage and put that on. 

I noticed with a deep blush that people were already sending glancing at us because they’d obviously voted. I hadn’t even seen the cards for christ’s sake, why had no one told me?

“Uh, I have to pee, wanna join me?” I asked, taking his hand before he could answer more than ‘huh?’ and dragging him off the dancefloor and to the empty hallway, pointedly not looking at anyone as we did.

“What’s up?” He asked, seeing how panicked I looked. 

“I’m pretty sure we’re about to win prom king and queen and I would seriously rather drown myself in the punchbowl than get on stage and put a little crown on,” I said, “do you care? We can go back in if you want to.”

Johnny laughed, thank god, “I don’t give a shit, I don’t wanna wear that goofy-ass thing.” 

We could still hear Mr Wilson talking on the microphone, taking the time to congratulate the graduating class.

“If we do win, they’re gonna come looking for us, you know?” He leaned on the wall next to me and messed with some of the hair that had fallen out of my updo. 

“We’ll have to hide until they stop looking then,” I chuckled, glad he was happy to let me avoid it. Johnny put his finger on his lips to gesture to me to be quiet and we listened to the announcement.

“This year’s prom king and queen... Johnny Lawrence and Jenna Parker,” everyone inside cheered and applauded, I covered my mouth when I let out disbelieving laughter, feeling myself go red at just the idea of all that attention. 

Johnny smiled wide and stood in front of me to bow, “My queen.” He said, offering me his hand.

I tried to stop laughing and looked at him; he would look good in a crown, honestly. Just right.

“My king,” I curtsied and took his hand, “wouldst thou accompany me to the gross locker rooms before someone finds us?”

“Certainly,” he said, and kissed my hand before pulling me behind him in a run, the two of us fighting off childish giggles as my shoes clicked on the shiny floor and we ducked around the corner.

Luckily, we didn’t have to go to the locker rooms. One of the English classrooms was thankfully unlocked so we went inside there instead, leaving the light off. When we finally stopped, breathlessly laughing in the dark, Johnny took the opportunity to put his hands on my cheeks and kiss me gently, standing amongst the desks. We could still just about hear the music from the hall; hopefully, people had gone back to dancing already.

I pulled back and rested my hands on his elbows; he looked so good in his tuxedo, but I liked that his hair was a little messier from all the dancing and the running. His blue eyes shone in the bit of light coming in from the outside and he smiled at me, thumbs rubbing my cheeks. Like a freight train, the thought that there was no way I was ever going to love anyone like this again hit me. 

“Oh shit, what’s wrong?” Johnny asked, and I only then noticed that I had teared up; I sniffled embarrassedly and he held my arms gently. 

“Nothing,” I shook my head and let out a breath, I had to tell him, “I got into Berkeley.” 

Johnny didn’t look anything but pleased for me, lighting up completely.

“That’s amazing, why didn’t you tell me before?” He said, squeezing my arms a little, so genuinely happy for me in a way that made it even harder. 

“‘Cause I - I’ll be moving to Berkeley and you’ll probably be moving to Boulder,” I said the thing we had been avoiding saying for months. Johnny went quiet and looked down for a second, letting a long breath out of his nose. 

“We’ll make it work,” he said, eyes searching mine, “right?”

I didn’t say anything, I couldn’t think of anything to say because I didn’t know what that meant. We could try to do everything by phone and letters, sure, but for four years? Four years of seeing each other maybe every couple of months, him meeting other girls and me not being jealous, and vice versa? It seemed naive to think it would work, as much as I wanted it to. 

“... Do you want to break up?” He asked, the upset in his voice about tearing my heart to shreds. 

“No, no, that’s why I feel so shitty,” I shook my head and looked up at him, feeling myself about to cry, “I don’t want to be away from you.”

“Me neither,” Johnny wet his lips and rubbed my arms comfortingly, “look, we have the summer to figure it out, right? Let’s just enjoy the summer okay? Please?” He sounded a bit desperate, like if I didn’t answer him that was it, not seeming to want to let me go in case I slipped out of his fingers forever. 

“Okay,” I said finally, but it wasn’t very convincing. He kissed my forehead and wrapped his arms around me, swaying a little. I heard his deep swallow and the long exhale out of his nose and breathed in the smell of his cologne. Like I was watching us from a distance, the thought occurred to me that this would be the scene in the movie that fades to black, flash forward to 6 months later, us at college, apart and moved on. The credits were about to roll and there was nothing I could do to stop them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, the next chapter is going to be the last proper one, and then an epilogue. Can you believe it? 
> 
> Love y'all as always. 
> 
> <3


	16. Got to Get Out While We're Young

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it loves, final chapter.

The day after prom, I was woken up first thing in the morning by the phone ringing in the hall. Apparently, the vodka in the punch the night before had gone straight into my bloodstream because my head pounded as soon as I sat up. Headache or no, I knew my mom wouldn’t be getting up that early for it so I shuffled out of bed with my hair still half up, half down, pins dotted through the strands, some left on my pillow. 

As soon as I answered it and Johnny was on the other end I knew what he was going to say, call it intuition. 

“I got my letter from UofC Boulder... I got in,” he said, not sounding as excited as he wanted him to be. Well, fuck. Immediately I was hit by two conflicting emotions: I was happy for him, truly, it was his first choice and he'd worked really hard to turn senior year around. But also, my heart clenched uncomfortably because that confirmed it. We would be a 20-hour drive apart and I knew that because I had checked and rechecked on the map many times. 

My eyes filled with tears and I swallowed deep, willing my voice to not betray I was crying already. 

“That’s so great,” I smiled so he could hear it in my voice and leaned my forehead against the wall, quietly crushed, “I’m so happy for you.”

“Yeah,” he sounded like he was pretending to be happier than he was, too, “my mom wants us to go to dinner tonight, your mom too. Just us.” 

“Awesome,” I said and tried to keep smiling, messing with an edge of peeling wallpaper; it felt selfish to be so upset, the guilt of it made me feel even shittier, “I knew you could do it, Johnny, seriously.”

“Thanks,” he said, “I love you. I’ll pick you up at 6, okay?”

“I love you too,” I said, and hung up before he could hear the wobble in my voice. 

I took a long breath and willed myself to just try to be calmer about it. For christ’s sake, every high school couple had to be apart at some point; Sharon and Jesse seemed fine, they weren’t acting like it was the end of the world just because they would be living in different states. A lot of it was me, my own jealousy, my possessiveness that was coming to the forefront at the prospect of him being away from me. Honestly, and I would never say it to him... I felt like I couldn’t be sure he would still love me if he barely saw me. I didn’t know if our connection would hold when I wasn’t around to talk to him and touch him and when there would be so many girls there to do exactly that. Shit, he would join the football team or something and look amazing and have everyone dropping their undies for him.

“Mom, we’re going for dinner later, don’t have a big lunch!” I knocked on her door and went to the bathroom to shower and brush my teeth, mentally torturing myself with images of tall, beautiful college cheerleaders sitting in his lap at frat parties. 

For the rest of the day, I basically sat around moping in my room, reading and listening to the radio, trying to think about anything else. It was like I was trying to work my way to the end of a super complicated riddle, find the answer that made it all make sense and was staring me in the face the whole time. It didn’t come. 

I went to the store a few blocks away to get Johnny a box of the frosted chocolate cupcakes that he loved even though they tasted cheap. It would be my congratulations gift to him, a little way of proving I really was happy for him, which I honestly was. He’d tried so hard and it had paid off, I was proud of him, and he really would love Colorado and be so relieved to get out of Sid's house. I tried to focus on those parts of it, instead, the parts that were genuinely good. 

On the way home I walked slow and sucked on a sour apple blow pop, kicking little stones that crossed my path. 

After passing the time doing nothing for hours, I got ready for our celebration dinner, glad that it would be just our moms and I wasn’t going to have to deal with Sid. I wondered if he'd said anything to Johnny about college, told him he was proud of him.

I put on my black skirt and tucked in a blue t-shirt that I was pretty sure was Johnny’s. It looked good on me, if he didn’t want me to wear his stuff he shouldn’t have left it lying around. I would definitely be stealing a few when I went away, because I liked them and because they smelled like him. Those tall, hot cheerleaders weren't having the Van Halen shirt, no way. 

Daryl drove my mom and me to the restaurant and made her take some cash so she wasn’t embarrassed about not being able to split the bill. I smiled to myself a little in the back when they kissed goodbye, I really did like him a lot, it made me feel a bit better about leaving that she had him around and he hadn’t stopped half-joking about the fact that he would get her to marry him eventually, despite my mom's lifelong aversion to the institution. 

The restaurant was nice, it was honestly a good thing Daryl had given us the money. They took us to a table not far from the bar with a few candles lit in the middle on top of the silk tablecloth; soft jazz played through the speakers and I felt a little bit underdressed, glancing down at 'my' baggy shirt. Luckily, Johnny was too, also only in a t-shirt and jeans, which made me feel a little better. 

“Hi!” My mom greeted Mrs Lawrence brightly with a hug. I was again struck by how different they were, my mom in her slightly too-short sparkly dress and Mrs Lawrence in her flowy baby pink one that went below her knees; she was waifish and small, unlike my mom who was built like me, round in the hips and ‘sturdy,’ as she liked to put it. They seemed to get on well, though, different as their personalities also were, but my mom had a way of talking to anybody

I stood on my tiptoes to hug Johnny tightly around the shoulders; I didn't really like to kiss him properly in front of his mom, but I pecked his lips anyway, "Congrats, babe." 

"Thanks," he squeezed me around the waist and the side of his mouth raised in a bashful smile. He was proud of himself, and I liked that look on him. 

Johnny kissed my cheek and pulled my chair out for me like a gentleman; it felt better to just see him, feel the warmth of him and congratulate him in person. In my head, I'd been picturing him abandoning me for the past few hours, it was nice to have him there and looking at me in that way he did. 

Dinner went well, even if Johnny and I didn’t really get to talk much. Mrs Lawrence was actually more conversational than I’d ever heard her without her husband around, and my mom really made her laugh, she said she could see where I got my sense of humour from. They talked about the two of us as kids, stories that made Johnny's ears go red and had me laughing at him and the story of him taking off his pants when he was a toddler and running away through the mall food court. Then it was his turn to tease me when my mom talked about how I'd gotten sent home from school when I was 8 for tying a girl's pigtails into a knot that no one could get undone.

"What? I thought you were a goody goody," he nudged my side with his elbow.

"I was," I defended, "she kept taking my coloured pencils... Talk shit get hit." 

Mrs Lawrence covered her mouth in a surprised laugh and my mom cackled, "The kid showed up the next day with a bob, her mom _hated_ me," she said.

"What did you say to her?" Mrs Lawrence asked her. 

"Said it might teach her to keep her hands to herself," My mom shrugged, she really had, there had never been a time she didn't have my back. 

"You did?" Mrs Lawrence chuckled. 

"No one messed with my kid," my mom winked to me and I couldn't help but smile, "My very clever kid, speaking of which... Congratulations to Jenna and Johnny,” my mom toasted us with about her third glass of champagne, “growing up, going to college.”

“Congratulations,” Mrs Lawrence said and we clinked glasses, “I can’t believe my baby boy is going to be leaving.”

“Mom,” Johnny complained about her calling him that but put a hand on her shoulder, “I’ll come back all the time, right?” 

“I know,” she dabbed under her eyes daintily, “have you been teary-eyed, Steph?”

“Oh my god, when she showed me her letter I bawled my eyes out,” my mom said, looking over at me, “I was a kid when I had her, you know? She’s my little partner in crime.” 

I almost felt like I could cry at that too, I reached over and held my mom’s head for a second, “Back at you… Even though you’re a huge pain in the ass.” 

She smacked me with her other and they all laughed, going back to a more lighthearted conversation. When dessert was long finished and my mom started talking about ordering cocktails, I knew we needed an out; I did actually want to talk to Johnny at some point before my mom tried to get his mom drunk.

“We can go though, right?” I said, sliding the rest of my cheesecake across to Johnny who finished it in a couple of forkfuls. 

“Sure, we don’t need you,” my mom winked and waved me off, “pina colada, Laura?”

“Oh, I’m not sure,” Mrs Lawrence checked her watch, “my husband was expecting me back a while ago.”

“Is he your _dad_?” My mom elbowed her arm, “come on, one pina colada for the road.” 

Mrs Lawrence glanced at us for a second, looking tempted but concerned she was going to get in some kind of trouble. I really hated that for her, she was a grown woman, why shouldn’t she if she wanted to?

“Alright, one,” she said finally with a smile, my mom clapping, bangles rattling as she called the waiter over.

“Okay, we’re definitely going,” I said and picked up my bag from the back of the chair, “fair warning Mrs Lawrence, one equals three in my mom’s world.” 

We left them to it and I actually kind of thought my mom could be a good influence on her. Honestly, a couple more drinks down and she’d straight up be telling her to dump him, I could bet on it. 

Johnny put his arm around my shoulders as we walked out into the warm evening air, “Hi.”

“Hi,” I laughed and looped my arm around his waist under his denim jacket; we really hadn’t got a word in all night, “you good?” 

“Yeah, I guess,” he said.

“Sorry if my mom gets yours wasted,” I laughed a little. 

“Eh,” he shrugged, “I don’t mind, it’s good to see her having some fun for a change.” 

We walked slowly to his car, tired from the big meal, “Are you excited?” I asked, looking up at him. 

“Yeah,” he said with another shrug and we got in his car, “kinda been expecting it, right?”

“After you got your grades so much higher, yeah,” I smiled and went through his tapes, not really sure what I felt like listening to. I just put in anything and it turned out to be The Cure. 

“Thanks to your after school classes,” he said, pulling out of the parking lot and onto the road, “you shoulda just let me fail and go to a community college close to you.” 

I laughed a little at the thought and relaxed back into the familiar seat of his Firebird. I would miss it a lot, sitting in the car with him and looking out of the window at the familiar town going by. That would take a lot of getting used to, not spending most weekends hopping in the passenger seat and driving around talking about nothing and everything. That was how it had been from the start and it was how I always pictured him, driving us across town, making me laugh.

Again, _again_ I felt myself starting to get upset and I bit it back. I felt stupid, honestly, for being so unable to chill out about it. 

When I glanced over at him, he was checking his reflection in the rearview mirror while we stopped at a red light, flicking his hair with his fingers with a very serious look that would’ve made me laugh on any other day. Then, it just made me feel worse because my thought the night before had been right. No way was anyone else ever going to compare to him, not a chance. 

“Are you alright?” He asked me after a while, driving on, “You were upset last night.” 

Tears filled my eyes again and I swallowed deeply, chewing on the inside of my mouth, trying to get it together and keeping my sight out of the window. 

“I just can’t believe I only have three months with you, that's all," I said finally. 

“I thought we weren’t going to break up,” Johnny looked over at me, a little wide-eyed. 

My nose stung and I started to well up again, torn between getting out what had been rattling around my head for weeks and holding it back. It had to be said, I had to be honest with him. 

“But you’ll meet someone else, you will, and you’ll think I’m meeting other people, and we’ll get jealous and-”

“That doesn’t have to happen,” he insisted, pulling up outside my house but not getting out. We sat in the tense quiet of the car for a minute, radio off. I had to say it. 

“But it will happen,” I said, looking at him, “I love you but it will. What are the chances you’re going to last _four years_ with no one else catching your attention? I know you love me but you’re human, right? Girls are going to throw themselves at you, I can’t pretend that’s not going to drive me crazy when we have to wait months before we can see each other.” 

It poured out of me, the things I needed to say, and I could see it hurting him like I was punching him in the chest with every word. Johnny’s jaw ticked and he looked down at his shoes. 

“You think I would cheat on you?” He asked, quiet, not looking at me. I considered him for a long time, guilt burning me up. Did I? Normally my answer would be no, of course not. But I wasn’t sure I could say the same in a few months, in a year. The uncertainty was what was driving me crazy and uncertainty was what we were in for. My silence seemed to be enough of an answer because he ran a hand through his hair and let out a deep, annoyed sigh. 

“I don’t know why you’re just giving up,” he said, shaking his head.

“I’m not, I’m just being realistic, Johnny. Us loving each other doesn’t stop us being 20 hours apart,” I said, “I don’t even have a car. You’d have to come to me every time.” 

“I _would_ come to you every time... And there’s planes, phones,” he said and I noticed then there were tears in his eyes too. I couldn’t look at that, it made my chest hurt too much. I wiped the wet off my cheeks and let out a shaky breath. 

"I'm already poor, Johnny, I can't afford to fly anywhere," I said.

"I'd send you the money," he said, sounding annoyed, then, "you sound like you don't even want to try." 

I looked at him, seeing his nostrils flare like they did when he was trying not to let tears break. Fuck, fuck, I couldn't look at that, I looked down at my shoes, chest hurting.

"That's not what I mean, I - I don't know what I mean, honestly, I don't know what I'm saying we're supposed to do... I just can't sit here and pretend it's all going to be the same because it's not," I said, shrugging a shoulder uselessly.

"I know it's not," he said, defensively, "I know that."

"Well, yeah, so what are we going to do about that? The distance, the jealousy..."

"I don't know, Jenna, I can't see the future," he snapped a little, "I just assumed we'd make it work." 

I looked at him. It was a circular conversation, always coming back to the same place. I still didn't know what I actually wanted to say. If we stayed together, did I want him to sign a binding contract that swore he absolutely wouldn't look at another girl? That he definitely would still love me in a year, two years? He was right, honestly, we couldn't see the future, and maybe I was trying to see it in the shittiest way possible. 

“I don’t know what to say,” I said. That was truer than anything, I didn’t know what to say, it just seemed too silly to believe that we were one of those special couples that could last out of high school and so far apart, as much as I wanted to believe that, as much as it felt like if anybody could do that it would be us. I must have been one in a long line of many people our age who thought their love was unique, deeper than anyone else’s.

But I did feel like that, and at least some of the people along that line had to have been right. 

“Me neither,” he said, voice quiet. He was hurt, I’d hurt him but I couldn't snatch it all back, one of us had to be pragmatic.

“I _do_ love you,” I said because I needed him to know.

“I love you too,” Johnny said, not looking at me, chewing the inside of his mouth and looking out of the front window. A long quiet passed between us, both of us stuck, neither knowing what to say to the other, which never happened between us. 

I got out of the car despite desperately wanting to stay and figure it out. Like he always did, he waited until I was safely inside before pulling away. There was still no one home, of course, but I still waited until I was inside my room I let myself cry properly, dropping onto my bed and pressing my face into the pillow, the image of him close to tears because of me burned on the back of my eyelids. 

Eventually, after a few hours, I fell asleep that way, fully clothed on top of my sheets. 

When I wandered out of my bedroom in the same clothes the next morning I found my mom up before me, sitting on her bed in her robe and eating a pop tart. 

“You good?” She asked when I leaned on her door, definitely looking a mess in last night’s clothes and makeup.

“No, actually,” I said and went to sit on her bed with her; some motherly advice would be nice, I thought, even if I didn’t usually ask for it, “...do me and Johnny need to break up?”

“Why do you say that?” She asked, setting down her plate. 

“Not because I want to,” I shook my head; the idea of saying that to him actually made me want to throw up, “we’re just going to be living apart and not seeing each other that much… Most people end up breaking up, eventually.”

She rested her hand on mine, “Sweetie…”

I started crying again, tears dripping silently down to my chin before I could stop them.

“Oh, come here,” she said, surprised; even she barely saw me cry anymore. She pulled me to her and into her chest like she hadn’t since I was little; I just held onto her and cried, let it come out of me while she rubbed my back. Her robe smelled familiar and comforting and I nosed into it, upset making my head hurt. 

“I know how it sounds,” I sniffled, moving back a little to look at her. 

“How does it sound?” She asked, smoothing a manicured hand over my hair. 

“Like we’re kids and we’re stupid and we haven’t even been together that long,” I said, “if it were someone else I would think they were being stupid and that they would get over each other eventually. Like, I _know_ we’re only 18, I do know that... I just can’t see how I could get over him, and the idea of him getting over me just - that hurts really fucking bad.”

My mom brushed tears off my cheeks gently, “You don’t sound stupid, Jen. You sound like you’re in love with a beautiful boy who loves you back harder than hell. That’s got to hurt.”

I breathed out a watery laugh, “Yeah, it does.”

“I don’t know the answer to this problem,” she moved my hair off my face, “I’m sorry, baby, I just don’t. But you know I have your back whatever you choose, right?”

“I know,” I wiped at my face and sniffed.

“Listen, take a bath, put on something comfy and we’ll watch a movie, alright? I’ll leave you some tea on your nightstand.”

A bath was about the only thing in the world that sounded good, so I nodded as she got off the bed. 

On the way out, my mom stopped in the doorway.

“I just have to say something, and it probably won’t help at all because I’m not very good at this relationship stuff myself,” she said, “but, I know when men are pretending to be in love when they’re not. Pretending to care when they don’t. He means it. That’s why you’re not stupid for thinking there’s something special about what you’ve got. There is."

She was totally serious, and I listened to her, "So if you can, I would find a way to hold onto that. If you can’t… Let him down easy, baby.” 

The words hit me hard; my mom had never lied to me, even about things she maybe should have. That’s why her telling me it was special made it feel more true than when it was only a feeling that existed inside myself. Unable to say anything, I just nodded again and went to the bathroom to fill up the tub with hot water and my lavender bubble bath. I lay in the water for a while, trying to let my mind go blank and breathe in the steam. Maybe I would call Sharon after the movie; getting high in the car might do me some good.

When I got out I dressed in some sweatpants and one of Johnny’s many abandoned band t-shirts and went to sit on the couch with my mom. She had put on Grease to try and cheer me up, even though I never really liked it. At that moment though, it made me smile that she loved it so much and I sat next to her and leaned on her arm. I would miss that too, as well, watching movies on the couch with my mom, listening to her sing along even if she didn't really know the words.

She fell asleep about halfway through like she always did with movies, and it was clearly infectious because I found myself doing the same, head on her shoulder and the movie sounding further and further away as I slipped into half-dreaming. 

I was woken up abruptly to a loud horn beeping outside and was immediately pissed off that it had startled me. Mom didn’t stir, just snored a little. I went to get comfortable again but the horn went off for longer that time as if someone was leaning on it.

Annoyed, I got up to tell whoever it was to shut the fuck up and ripped open the front door. 

“The hell are you-”

It wasn't just some random asshole leaning on the horn.

Johnny was standing there on the street outside my house, but not with his Firebird. He was beside a blue VW T3 with his arm in the open driver’s side window, hand on the wheel, and I noticed through my shock that it was the same one we’d been looking at in the car lot a few weeks ago with the flowery 70’s upholstery on the inside.

I crossed the front yard, my brain basically static, not understanding what was doing on. 

“Johnny?” I said when he held up the keys, looking excited like he was presenting me with a puppy. 

“We’re running away together - just for the summer, or forever maybe,” he said like it was a fact, sounding assured and a little hyper, “I don’t know what’s gonna happen, I just think we should drive off together right now and see where we end up. Arizona, New Mexico, we could go north and head for Yellowstone...”

“Johnny…” I felt breathless, a lump in my throat as I tried to process what he was saying, looking from him to the bus; the bus from our dreamy, silly conversations about what we wanted to do but would never really end up doing, “how did you afford this?”

“College fund got released to me,” he said simply.

“No, Johnny you-” I put my hand on my forehead. That was a stupid thing to do.

“Kind of a _huge_ college fund, Jenna, this was nothing, I swear. Don’t worry about money, okay?” He said quickly and put his hands on my elbows, holding onto me and making me look at him. He looked totally _sure_ , about whatever was happening. I felt wide-eyed and blindsided but my heart was racing, and I realised that excitement was winning out over anxiety. Running away together, me and him, hitting the road, just us and no one else. 

It sounded exactly right. 

“I love you so goddamn much, Jenna, and I know this is super intense but I’ve never had to be fake with you before and I’m definitely not starting now. This is what we should do, it just is,” he said, swallowing and collecting his words, “I’m not stupid, I know things are gonna change, that’s why I want to spend every second of the next three months with you, at least.” 

“Oh my god,” the excitement made blood rush through my ears, his words almost enough to knock me off my feet, “oh my god, Johnny.”

“You love me too, right?” He squeezed my elbows a little with his hands, looking down at me with those bright blue eyes so full of excitement and _love_ that I really thought I would wake up in any second, it could not be real. I didn’t know what to say, or more accurately, _how_ to say it. Nothing came to me to express how much I felt for him that moment. 

"Johnny, I-" my voice shook, I ran my hands through my hair, "fuck, Johnny, of course I love you. You - you're perfect, you know that, right? You're like-"

Speech failed me, almost, "These last few weeks have been _killing_ me. I don't want to be away from you, ever, honestly." 

"Me too," he rubbed up and down my arms, "that's why we've gotta do this, me and you." 

I nodded and looked over at the VW, shining in the sunlight, “You bought us a fucking van,” I said, shaking my head with disbelief, breathing out a quivering laugh. A picture reel ran through my head of all the places we could go and the things we could see together. We could hike in the parks, we could bathe in hot springs, maybe drive to Vegas and get kicked out of every bar.

“I bought us _the_ fucking van,” he said with a little smile, “get your stuff.”

“We’re just going to-?”

“Drive. Yeah. Right now,” He smiled broadly then, showing his perfect teeth, and not one part of me wanted to do anything other than say yes. I looked at him for a long while. It felt crazy. But I was 18, and in love, I _could_ do something crazy, I was _allowed_ to do something crazy. Especially when that crazy thing felt like the sanest thing on the planet to do: spend every second I could with this beautiful boy who loved me enough to buy me a van for us to live in for a while. Forever, maybe, who knew? Why not?

So I ran into my house and dug the big brown leather suitcase out from under my bed, throwing it on the mattress and shoving everything in haphazardly; my clothes, my tapes, a few pictures, some books, anything that seemed important, although I would have happily hit the road immediately and figured it out later. 

“What is going on?” My mom came to the doorway, frowning in confusion; the last she’d known we’d been falling asleep to Grease on the couch.

“Uh - I -” I flipped the stray hair off my face, “I’m going away with Johnny, we're going to live in a van.”

“What?” She asked, as blindsided as me when I breezed by her to go to the bathroom to get my toothbrush and my makeup bag. I couldn’t blame her for being shocked, I just hoped she wouldn’t try to change my mind. I wasn’t going to change my mind, not a chance; my heart thundered. I rushed back to the bedroom and pulled out my underwear drawer to tip into the suitcase. 

“For the summer, I think, I just -”

“ _What_?” She repeated, watching me zip up my bag and haul it off the bed with some difficulty. There were definitely things I'd forgotten, but I didn't care, we could figure it out later. 

I went to her and hugged her tightly. 

“I have to, okay? I have to,” I put my hands on her face, empathising with her bewilderment though mine was totally gone. Everything was completely clear.

“I’ll be careful, I’ll call you, I love you, please turn your curling iron off when you’re done with it...” I hugged her again for longer that time and kissed her cheek, “You’re a really good mom, you always have been. ”

Mom stood with shock for a moment when I parted from her and ran out of the house, heavy suitcase making me move lopsided out onto the yard. Johnny grinned wide at me and took it from me to put in the back. Buzzing with energy, I ran my hand over the side of the paintwork in amazement before I climbed up into the passenger seat and looked around the van. It was like I remembered it, but cleaner, and there was a mattress in the back that looked like it had been dragged off Johnny’s bed: sheets, pillows and all, stuffed up against the little counter with a sink in it and the camping stove on top. 

Johnny got in and shut his door. We looked at each other for a breathless second before we both leaned in and kissed each other firmly, Johnny pushed his fingers into my hair and I held onto the front of his shirt, closing my eyes and sinking into the feeling of his lips on mine, the tip of his tongue, the intensity of it all. I loved him so much, so much. 

“Ready?” He asked when we pulled apart. 

“Yes,” I grinned, totally ready, readier than I’d ever been. Johnny pressed the button of the glovebox in front of me to open it and took out the heart-shaped sunglasses I had left in his car; I giggled and put them on. He’d thought of everything. _Now_ I was ready. 

Johnny turned on the ignition and the cassette player came on loud when he peeled away from my house; Springsteen, Born to Run, of course, who else? What other song could he have possibly prepared that would be more perfect? I covered my face with my hands and laughed out loud, feeling tears sting my eyes. I’d been wrong, that night at prom; it wasn't ending with a sad fade to black and there was no need for me to scramble to stop the credits, they were actually a long, long way off. 

I looked at him as the breeze through the open window mussed up his hair and he looked at me with bright eyes and that smile that had got me from the start. Suddenly, fretting about what would happen to us seemed so silly. We were excited and wild and happy and I was so sure that we always would be. 

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that’s it for high school Jenna and Johnny. I’ve loved writing them so much and I’m for real going to miss them. This is the final chapter, but I’ll say a proper goodbye in the notes of the Epilogue, which I will be posting very soon. 
> 
> Can't wait to see what you all thought, love you's. 
> 
> <3


	17. 1st November 2020

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I've posted the previous chapter and this so close together please make sure you aren't accidentally reading the epilogue first! I would hate for anyone to skip the actual ending and come straight here, haha.

**_1st November 2020_ **

Maggie steeled herself in the archway to the kitchen, plucking up the courage to tell her parents what she needed to tell them. She glanced over the pictures of them all on the sideboard in the hallway and considered bringing a photo of her as a baby as if to remind them how cute she was and not to get mad. The one with the missing front tooth would work, she thought, they loved that one. Above all the framed pictures of the three of them in various places across the country, there was a glowing neon beer sign of a woman laying on top of a beer glass that always embarrassed her but that her mom insisted had sentimental value. Everything had sentimental value according to her, including the magnets that covered their fridge from pretty much every tourist destination in America. 

Realising she was just delaying the inevitable, Maggie went into the kitchen. There was always music playing, Maggie was pretty good at identifying songs from the 70s and 80s that her friends didn’t know because of it. Her mom was sitting up on the counter, watching her dad cut up peppers for dinner and sipping a glass of white wine. They were joking about something, as usual, laughing to themselves, and didn't notice her until she cleared her throat. 

“Hey, can I talk to you guys for a minute?” She worried the hem of her t-shirt with her fingers. 

“Of course,” her mom’s expression instantly turned to concern when she looked over her shoulder at her and held out her hand, “what’s up?” 

Maggie rounded the island and stood beside her mom, both her parents looking at her expectantly. 

“I’m just telling you now before you get a call from school…”

“Oh shit,” her dad said preemptively with a little smirk, “we should take bets, I think smoking pot, what about you?” Maggie tried not to smile. 

“Johnny…” Her mom warned, trying to look serious.

“What? She _was_ at Aunt Sharon’s last weekend,” he shrugged, giving her mom a look. Maggie didn’t get why smoking pot had any relation to her swimming in her aunt’s pool, but that wasn’t what was on her mind. 

Her mom kicked his knee lightly and tried to frown disapprovingly, “Ignore him, what is it?”

She sighed and looked up to the ceiling, bracing herself, “I punched someone in the face in the lunchroom.” 

They both looked shocked, her dad put down his knife and seemed genuinely serious then.

“You _punched_ someone?” Her mom repeated.

“Yeah, Chris Jackson said something gross to me in the lunchline, and I _did_ ignore him, kind of, I just told him to fuck off,” she said and glanced at her dad embarrassedly for what she was about to say, “but then he - he touched my ass, so I punched him in the nose. It’s not broken, I don’t think, but he might tell on me.” 

“He _what_?” Her dad put his hands on his hips, immediately angry, “alright, do you know where this little fucker lives? ‘Cause I’m gonna break more than his nose. See how great a QB he is when I bust both his goddamn shins...” 

Her mom caught her dad’s arm before he could storm out of the kitchen and get in his car. Maggie knew it wasn’t an empty threat; when she had been 9 and a girl at the park had pushed her off the swing there had almost been a fistfight between him and the girl’s dad when he refused to make her apologise. She’d never heard so much swearing in a kids playground before. 

“Johnny, we’re being parents right now, yeah? Not beating up teenagers,” her mom stared him down until he sighed and leaned his hands on the counter, still looking like he wanted to go find the guy and rip his head off, “so he was bleeding, then?”

“Kind of a lot,” Maggie admitted, “I did it like dad taught me, you know, like try to punch _through_ … it totally works.”

“Nice,” Her dad couldn’t resist saying and fist-bumping her, “practice pays off.”

Maggie was too aware of her mom’s disapproving look in her dad's direction to grin as much as she wanted to, and he noticed it eventually as well. 

“What? She’s supposed to let some little creep touch her?” He made a face. “Come on, babe, you would’ve decked the guy, too.” 

“Of course,” she rolled her eyes, “a punch in the face is just pretty conspicuous, especially when she’s trying to get college references in a few months.” 

Her mom turned to face her and smoothed her daughter’s red hair over her shoulder.

“I’m obviously not mad at you, screw this kid, I just don’t want _you_ to get in trouble,” she said and Maggie nodded, understanding, “but we’ll have your back if he tells on you. Maybe _I’ll_ tell his mother he touches girls without asking and we can see what she thinks about that.”

“Your mom’s right,” her dad said, “college is too important to get caught fighting... Maybe a wristlock next time? Won’t leave a mark but you can get him on his knees, give him a little sprain.”

“Sprains are also bad,” her mom pointed at him with her wine glass. 

“Just a little one,” he shrugged, pinching his fingers together. 

“I don’t remember how to do wristlocks,” Maggie admitted, relieved they weren’t reacting badly. She should’ve seen it coming that they wouldn’t be mad at her, they never really were because she usually didn’t do anything wrong. They weren't the getting mad type of parents, either, not at her. Her mom always told her there was nothing they couldn't talk out. 

“Oh, I’m sure your dad can’t wait to show you,” her mom pulled her over to her side and put an arm around her, kissing her cheek, “are you okay, kid? It’s shitty when boys think they can just do that.”

“I’m alright,” she nodded, sighing, “I don’t think he’ll be doing it again.”

“Me neither,” her dad snorted and went back to making dinner, “proud of you, Mags.”

“Me too,” her mom whispered and kissed her cheek again. Maggie laughed a bit and looked at her mom for a moment; it wasn’t hard to predict what she would look like when she was older because it was like a mirror - pale skin, freckles, hair red, though her mom kept her's long while Maggie had cut hers short. Her mom just had a few laugh lines around her eyes and the sides of her mouth, too and her eyes were green while Maggie's were bright blue. That was something she'd gotten from her dad, as well as being tall for a girl. 

“Oh shit,” Maggie looked at the time on the big copper wall clock, “I gotta change.”

“You’re not staying for dinner?” Her mom asked as she left the kitchen in a hurry.

“Uh, no, sorry, I have a thing,” she rushed into the hallway and up the stairs.

Jenna and Johnny looked at each other with twin suspicious expressions. 

“‘A thing’?” He repeated with a frown. Jenna narrowed her eyes for a moment before it dawned on her. 

“If she’s being that vague and she’s not staying for dinner I’m pretty sure it’s a boy,” she said and picked up a piece of red pepper he was cutting to chew on.

“Nope, she’s too young,” Johnny said immediately, shaking his head.

Jenna scoffed, “Do I have to remind you what _we_ were doing at 18?” 

“Definitely _don’t_ remind me about that or I’ll go upstairs and lock her in,” he said, shaking his head at her amusement, “can’t she wait for college to date?”

“Once again, did we?” She nudged him with her foot, “It’s totally normal for her to go out on a date, and she’s smart, you know that.”

“I know,” he sighed and slipped the vegetables into a pan to stir fry, “it’s just… wasn’t it yesterday she was 5 in that tiny little white gi and her yellow belt? Now she’s like, going on dates.”

“Punching quarterbacks,” Jenna pointed out with a little smirk, “since she has a black belt now.” 

“That part I’m fine with,” he said and they both chuckled a bit. The kitchen started to smell good with cooking and Johnny washed off his hands, “I know we’re not technically supposed to encourage it, but…”

“Mags is a little badass, always has been,” Jenna shrugged, pleased she could defend herself too, “you kind of made sure of that.”

“Never hurts to be handy in a fight, babe,” Johnny rested his hands on either side of his wife’s legs on the counter, “remember that dive bar outside of Phoenix?”

Jenna remembered it well, actually, even though it was so long ago. Their van had chugged along well for the majority of their first road trip but had broken down in a tiny town in Arizona, the bar patrons had mostly been helpful, except for the drunk one who decided to corner her by the payphones while Johnny tried to repair the engine with limited knowledge of how to actually do that.

“You totally dropped that guy,” he said, smiling a bit at the memory, “hottest shit I’ve ever seen to this day.”

“I _know_ you found it hot, we didn’t have much else to do other than celebrate my victory in that broken down van,” she said quietly, aware of her husband moving a bit closer to her. 

Even still, he was so handsome that it would catch her off guard sometimes, tall and blonde and very in shape for his age. It was easy to glance at him and see him as he was when they were 18, plus a few crow’s feet and wrinkles. His personality had barely changed either, and she supposed hers also hadn’t that much. She smiled to herself at the thought. 

“You feeling nostalgic about that?” Johnny asked, glancing over his wife with her red hair up and her floaty yellow summer dress on, a smile on her full lips. Before they got married, so many people told him what hard work it was, how it was pretty much guaranteed that they would get to this point and be disinterested in each other and would have to do everything they could to keep it going. Johnny didn’t get it. Sure, they’d had their blowouts, but he’d never stopped feeling any different for her and he was pretty sure she didn’t either. She was his wife, she was beautiful and sexy and smart and her getting older definitely had not changed that; her having his kid hadn’t changed it either, it had just given him new reasons to be amazed by her. 

“A little,” she cocked her head and ran her fingers over his stomach through his faded Zebra t-shirt that she was pretty sure had been in that van with them all those years back, “you wanna rent a camper and recreate it?”

“I know you’re messing with me, but Maggie _is_ about to go off to college… Not a bad idea while we’ve got some free time,” he put his hands on the outside of her thighs and rubbed his thumbs on the soft skin there, “Thunder Road Tour, 2020?”

Jenna chuckled at the stupid name they had given it, but the thought did stick with her. 

“What about work?”

“We’ll take time off,” he shrugged, “or just quit.”

“Uh-huh,” she rolled her eyes, “quit our jobs to have sex in a van on the side of the road.”

“Good a reason as any, I did some of my best work in a van on the side of the road,” Johnny kissed her softly and ran his hands up under her dress, enjoying the feel of her skin. She pushed her fingers into his hair and ran her nails lightly over his scalp like she knew he liked, making him shudder and lean into her, touching the edge of her underwear and wondering if they had enough time to sneak into the bedroom without burning the food. They’d used the pantry before, in a pinch.

The doorbell rang, and he groaned and broke apart from her. 

“Every time,” she said, shaking her head and sliding off the counter in front of him; she adjusted her dress and smacked his hand away when he squeezed her ass, snickering. 

When she answered the door, it was a boy she hadn’t seen before, definitely Maggie’s age, very cute, with light brown skin and thick black hair; he was still rubbing his obviously sweaty palms on the sides of his jeans when she opened the door and he showed his braces when he smiled nervously at her. This was ‘the thing’ her daughter had, she supposed. 

“Hi,” he said, absolutely brimming with nerves in a way that made her need to bite back a smile of amusement at how adorable it was, “is Maggie here?”

“Yeah, she’s jus-”

“Who’s asking?” The sound of a teenage boy’s voice had obviously brought Johnny out of the kitchen and standing at her back, dishtowel over his shoulder.

“Oh, yeah, sorry, I’m Miguel,” he said, the presence of Johnny looming at Jenna’s back not clearly not helping his anxiousness.

“Never heard of y-” Johnny started.

“Nice to meet you, come in, honey,” she smiled warmly and pinched her husband in the back to make him go inside the house, “she’ll just be a minute... _Mags! Miguel is here!_ ”

Jenna heard Miguel clear his throat behind her as he followed them into the kitchen, standing awkwardly by the island. 

“Your house is really nice,” he said, looking around, eye caught by the beer sign and the framed Terminator poster in the living room. Probably not stuff he was used to seeing in a big house that adults owned. Alleged adults, anyway. 

“Thanks,” Johnny said quickly, “so you’re Maggie’s friend? I’ve never seen you before.”

Jenna looked over at her husband and the way he surveyed Miguel as if he wasn’t just a typical teenage boy there to take their daughter out, instead looking for some kind of fault. She got him a glass of water to calm his nerves and handed it to him. 

“I just moved here this year from Riverside,” he said and thanked her politely. 

“Nice, do you like the school?” Jenna asked, eager to counteract the intense overprotective dad vibes Johnny was giving off. It wasn’t the first time a boy had been to the house to pick her up but they were usually in a group with girls too. The whole thing seemed like a date, especially including Maggie’s caginess about it. 

“Yeah, there’s some cool people,” Miguel said and took a sip of his water, “Maggie and I are in the same English study group.”

“So, what are you two up to tonight?” Johnny asked, disregarding that, his tone still pretty interrogation-like.

“Oh, I thought we could go to the movies, they’re showing Carrie, she said she likes it,” Miguel said, blushing a bit, clearly explaining his idea for a romantic date to the girl’s parents was not what he wanted to do. Jenna decided to save him.

“She loves it, good call,” she said, “you can stay for dinner if you want.”

“We’re going for burgers first, mom,” Maggie came into the room, hair done and makeup on, wearing the denim jacket that she had got from a vintage shop and a skirt to match. Jenna was struck by how pretty and cool her daughter looked, and suddenly felt embarrassingly emotional to see her going on her first date, “hey.” She smiled at Miguel and tucked some wavy hair behind her ear. 

“Hey,” he said, letting out a big breath. He liked her, it was written all over his face. Jenna glanced at Johnny and saw him noticing that too, arms crossed and leaning back against the counter, jaw clenched. 

“Alright, have fun you two,” Jenna swallowed the swell of emotion in her throat and turned the heat down on their simmering food.

“Back by nine,” Johnny said as they left; Maggie looked back with a nearly horrified expression.

“Twelve,” Jenna said, ignoring her husband with a little smile; Maggie looked happy with that and headed quickly for the door before her dad could speak again.

“Nice to meet you Mr and Mrs Lawrence,” Miguel said quickly as Maggie rushed them out.

“Nice to meet you, too, sweetie,” Jenna said.

“Uh-huh,” Johnny said, unimpressed, as the door closed behind them. He caught the look on his wife’s face eventually, standing there with her arms crossed, “what?” He said like he didn’t know. 

“That poor kid was terrified and you made it worse,” she said and went to the cooker to add the sauce to the pot.

“C’mon, she doesn’t want to be dating someone who’s enough of a pussy to get scared off by me,” he put his hands on her hips and stood behind her, “I wasn’t that bad.”

“You were giving off your asshole aura,” she said. Johnny sighed and conceded that maybe he had been, a little. 

“Fine, I’ll be nice next time,” he rested his chin on her shoulder, “if there is a next time.”

“I’m sure there will be, he’s very cute,” she said, smiling. 

“He is?”

Jenna chuckled, “Yes and she thinks so too, I could tell.”

Johnny groaned and buried his forehead in her shoulder instead, “Shit.”

“At least he seems like a sweetheart,” she said, “not like how you showed up in your bright red Firebird looking like every parent’s worst nightmare.” 

He snorted, “Yeah, I was a sweetheart on the inside though, right?”

“Sure,” rolled her eyes at him, “okay, this is ready.” She dropped the wooden spoon on the counter and switched off the heat.

“But, now we’ve got the house to ourselves I’m hungry for something else,” he kissed the side of her neck and up to her ear, tightening his arms around her. 

“If there’s ever a time you’re _not_ hungry for that I’ll get you checked in at the hospital - get the plates,” she nudged him off with her hip.

Like they had so many times before, Johnny and Jenna sat on the couch to eat despite the seats around the big island in their kitchen and put on a movie, him leaning back in the cushions, her with her back against the couch arm and feet up next to him. They ate for a while watching the movie in comfortable quiet of their cosy living room, sinking into the plush cushions of their teak sofa, a lavender candle burning on the coffee table they'd hauled back from a craftsman near Joshua Tree about fifteen years ago. The food was good, somewhere along the line, Johnny had become a pretty excellent cook, way better than Jenna and she was happy to admit it. 

“I have no idea how you’re not sick of this yet,” she said, wrapping the last of her noodles around her fork.

“What? First Blood kicks ass,” he said incredulously. 

“No argument here, there’s just like a million movies we haven’t seen,” she took a sip of her wine.

“True, you haven’t seen Iron Eagle,” he smirked.

“Uh-huh, and god willing I never will,” she set down her glass as he shook his head at her. Jenna considered him for a moment, slouching on the couch with one foot up on the coffee table. Even she hadn’t expected to get to their 50s and still look at him in awe of how hot he was, but she totally did, “I’m so glad you didn’t go bald.”

Johnny scoffed, “You’ve said that before but there’s still time for me to lose it.”

“Nah, it would’ve started by now,” she said with a smirk.

“Well, I’m glad you’re still a babe,” he said, glancing over at me, “in that grade A, top of the line, unbelievably hot MILF way you’ve got.”

“So charming,” She rolled her eyes but smiled anyway, going back to her food. 

“I can’t believe Maggie’s on a date right now,” she said after a bit. 

“You seemed cool about it,” Johnny pointed out, looking at her.

“I am. She’s smart and she can look after herself,” she shrugged, “it’s just… She’s going on dates, she’ll be leaving for college soon… We’re like, _old_.”

Johnny scoffed, “Are not,” he set down his plate next to hers on the coffee table, “old ladies don’t have such perky tits.” 

He laughed at her stony expression and crossed arms and leaned over to her on the couch.

“Come on, do you _feel_ old?” He asked, scooting closer to her so he could his chin on her bent knee. Jenna looked over at the big wall of framed photos of them all; the two of them together at the Grand Canyon when they were very young; Johnny shirtless and sitting up on the roof of their van; her pregnant, lounging on their old couch; Maggie when she was tiny and her freckles stood out more, big blue eyes squinting against the sun, ice cream on her chin. So many years had passed, but even the polaroid of them sitting at the picnic bench at Topanga state park, Johnny kissing her cheek and the two of them not even done with high school yet felt like two minutes ago. 

“No,” she admitted with a sigh, “I guess it’s just weird to think how quickly time has passed.” 

“That’s true,” Johnny kissed her knee, “but I think it’s gone fast ‘cause we’ve had a good time. I plan to continue having a good time, by the way.”

She smiled at him a little.

“I mean it. Mags is our baby and it majorly freaks me out too that I can’t pick her up and put her on my shoulders anymore, but we’ve done a good job and I know she’s gonna do awesome on her own,” he said and Jenna started feeling that emotion creep back up again, “and just ‘cause she’s not gonna be here all the time doesn’t mean we have to suddenly turn into creaky old bastards.”

Johnny meant it; he had no intention of slowing down yet, there was no reason to. As much as his daughter dating was a little hard to get his head around and the thought of her going to college put a lump in his throat, it was still exciting to think of all the stuff the two of them hadn’t done and all the ground the could retread if they wanted to. Maybe he _would_ rent a van, drop Mags off at college in it and take the scenic route home via a mountain range or the coast. Why not? That had been their mantra since day one. 

Jenna chuckled and put her hand over his, feeling the familiar bumps of his knuckles, “You’re right,” she said and kissed him gently, “we’ve still got a few more adventures in us before the hips start to go.” 

“That’s right, gorgeous,” Johnny kissed her again and settled between her legs, laying his head on her stomach and looking back at the TV, “this first though, huh?” 

She ran a hand through his blonde hair like she had so many times before and breathed out a laugh, “Yeah... nap first, adventure later.”

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I can’t believe I’ve only been writing this story for a month. I’ve genuinely not had anything pour out of me like this in years (and not this many chapters ever!) It’s just been such a good time and you all have been so fucking nice and I can’t thank you enough for bothering to drop comments on every chapter since the start.
> 
> In terms of a follow-up, I hate to make promises for when it will be ready, but I don’t think I can be done with Jenna and Johnny yet. I’ve had this idea in my head about maybe a shorter story (4-5 chapters), of Jenna and Johnny’s bus days in ‘89 after graduating college. It would also satisfy the desire I’ve had to write a road trip story for years, so if you all would be interested in that let me know.
> 
> Again, thank you all so much for all your kind words. You can follow me on tumblr if you want at bloodyholly.tumblr.com
> 
> Love you! 
> 
> <3


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